The Powerpuff Legacy
by Tziput13
Summary: It has been just one year since the girls met their first equal. And yet, that was just the beginning. When new strangers knock at the door of the superheroines, the Powerpuff Girls are thrown into an adventure around the world that will make them question the reasons behind their own existence and, perhaps, mark the beginning of a new era. Sequel to 'Dust from the Past'.
1. Greed

_**AN:**_ _Recently I've been trying to keep my author's notes as short as possible, but for this story I feel like a preface is needed to make a few things clear. First of all, 'The Powerpuff Legacy' is a sequel to two past fanfics of mine: 'The Perfect Little Boy' and 'Dust from the Past'. While the plot is not a direct continuation to the ones of the previous two, and I do plan to write these first few chapters as reintroductions of sorts to the OCs and world, the story does start from the foundations laid by the prequels, in original characters and 'world building' alike. For this reason, I suggest that you read them first if you already didn't do so._

 _As an obvious consequence of it being a sequel to two fics first posted before 2016, this one is a fanfiction of the original Powerpuff Girls series from 1998. There may be minor reference to other PPG stories I posted in the past, but they if they ever make it to the final draft they will be very minor._

 _Furthermore, I wanted to say that the first two stories, while they were fun to write back then, have always left a sour taste in my mouth. They are far from being flawless, and one of the goals I gave myself while brainstorming ideas for a third part was addressing those issues. I won't go into the specifics, but one decision I took was addressing the way I was using the OCs compared to the original cast from the series: I wasn't satisfied with the balance beforehand, and I wasn't happy with the development of the OCs. I'll try my best to improve in that regard._

 _Now, about this first chapter, what you're about to read is a short prologue, one that was originally supposed to be added to 'Dust from the Past' as a bonus chapters of sorts. The actual plot will begin in the next chapter, and for this reason I posted chapter 2 along with this one. Moving forward,_ _ **updates will be slow-ish.**_ _I will try to keep a steady pace and never stop for too long, but I won't make a promise I'm not sure I can keep, except for one: sooner or later, I will finish this one as well and give a proper ending to this series._

* * *

 **THE POWERPUFF LEGACY**

 _Chapter 1 – Prologue_

 **Greed**

A magazine lay on a desk table. It had been left open, and the smudged paper was illuminated by a desk light. There were no roman letters written down: in fact, the symbols that could be seen on the pages were logograms of Chinese origin.

Yet, even an English-speaking reader would have been able to check out the images featured… photos where the forms of four, very young kids could be seen, looking as happy as they could ever be.

Someone stepped into the room, carrying a cardboard box of which the contents were yet to be seen. The man stopped right in front of the desk, placed the box on the floor, and proceeded to clean the desk out of everything that occupied the space over it. With one quick swipe of his hands he pushed everything onto the floor, apparently without care for the well-being of the objects. The magazine flapped its pages in the air and ended its fall facing downwards.

The figure returned his attention to the box and opened it. The first object he took out of the thing was a metal bowl, which he carefully placed on the table in front of him. Then, he started to get the _ingredients_ out of it, one after the other.

Toys of several types and materials, decorations, fabric-made animals, and so on… _everything's nice._

Eight glass containers full of seasoning of various origin, from the most exotic to the most common… _spice._

Various decagrams of the sweetest-tasting ingredient of the recipe… _sugar._

The man had no intention to spare on the materials he was working with. He filled the bowl slowly, adding a minor quantity of each ingredient every now and then, making sure to mix the concoction the way he felt was correct. Soon, the bowl was full of a liquid solution where multiple colours danced around, combining and embracing each other to create even wilder colourations.

The man made a couple of steps back and inspected the mechanical contraption that was installed all around the desk. When he deemed the gearwork safe for use, he straightened his lab coat and kneeled, picking up the last key ingredient.

His hand raised, holding a laboratory beaker that contained something glowing: a granular, green substance. Despite the ominous appearance who would have convinced anyone to stay away from it, the man didn't look fazed by the pulsing light emitted by the dust inside the beaker.

With his other hand, he pulled away a tiny label that had been plastered on the beaker and glanced at the single letter written over it.

' _W'._

He scoffed before letting the paper fall to the ground. He walked away from the desk where the bowl was waiting, reaching another worktable over which a few Bunsen burners were available. He snatched the nearest one, turned the gas on, ignited it with a simple lighter and held the beaker over the blueish flame.

Soon, the glowing dust ceased to emit light and changed its physical state, while still retaining its green colour. It took the man no more than a minute to liquefy the entire substance, after which he turned off the Bunsen and whirled around to look at the bowl he had left behind.

He muttered something to himself in Chinese before returning to the first desk. There, he grinned, staring at the bowl and its contents for a few, long seconds.

Thus, he turned the beaker down over the bowl and the liquified dust poured into the mixture.

The scientist dropped the beaker on the floor, ignoring the noise of shattering glass, and ran away just in time as, five seconds later, an explosion echoed in the chamber and through the walls around him.

Having just evaded the shockwave, the man was immediately able to look at the result of his efforts. The cloud of dust raised by the detonation cleared away in no time, revealing to the world the existence of four new living beings.

Two boys and two girls hovered above what used to be the desk where the bowl was located. The colours of their big eyes, while not the same for everyone, matched their clothes, and their appearance left no doubt about their kind.

The scientist stood up, grinning and with a worrying glint in his eyes. The four kids, once they located him, smiled back, unaware of the danger they were in. Without a word, the man simply moved towards a small panel located near him and pressed one of the buttons placed on it.

He stayed immobile as the machine behind the kids roared to life and electrical lightnings and discharges started to dance around the chamber and the unlucky objects near the contraption… including the new-born puffs. The laboratory was invaded by screams of pain and agony, but the mandidn't react in any way to the torture happening in front of him.

In fact, the scientist simply turned around, steering away from the spectacle. He left the chamber and shut the door behind him, thus stifling the screams coming out of the room.

The scientist's phone rang, and the man swiftly drew it out of his pocket and brought the speaker to his ear.

" _I guess the experiment has been a success, then?"_ a voice spoke through the call.

"Yes," the man replied. "It is successful. How did you hear?"

" _This complex has not been built with soundproof walls as its main priority. That's of minor importance, though… what matters is that you managed to do it without a hitch."_

"Yes, I agree," the scientist replied. He scratched his chin for a second before adding, "I expect payment soon."

" _You'll have everything that has been promised to you, mark my word…_ _ **after**_ _you deliver my products. I didn't grant you access to the premises of the army and our W's reserves just to hear your constant demands."_

"Of course, yes," the scientist quickly confirmed. "No pressure. I just want sure, sir."

" _You have nothing to worry about: finish your job and you'll be rewarded. We are running out of time, and after Porter's fiasco I don't intend to postpone my plans any further. Do not waste my time, and I'll respect my end of the deal."_

The line went dead. The scientist put the phone back in his pocket and mumbled something under his breath, before smiling again. He had always wanted to have a personal yacht all for himself… or maybe he could build a modern mansion? Surely, both would attract a fair number of female admirers…

He continued to daydream as he walked away, farther and farther from the shrieks of suffering which slowly lost in strength… until they stopped altogether.

And then, it was only silence.


	2. Another Stranger in Town

**.**

 _Chapter 2_

 _ **Another Stranger in Town**_

Fuzzy Lumpkins had woken up that day with the best intentions to spend his day. Heck, he would even have tried to behave in the calmest manner that was possible for him: his mood was that good!

But of course, the entirety of the world out of his property wanted all but him to be happy for a more than a minute straight. And thus, a squirrel had dared to trespass the confines of his shack and even roam around his precious grass. The nasty, disrespectful animal! Yet, Fuzzy was so happy he would even have tried to simply shoo away the unruly animal and be done with it.

That was, until the squirrel went and took a dump on his yard, in front of his incredulous eyes.

Therefore, ten minutes later, Fuzzy Lumpkins was rampaging through the outskirts of Townsville. People screamed and ran in an attempt to escape from the raging beast, while Fuzzy, now three times his usual size, his fur coloured a hellish red and his eyes almost exploding with rage, obliterated whatever object was enough unfortunate to cross his way.

Even in his current state, though, Fuzzy knew that his actions were not going to be unpunished. Surely, Townsville was going to react fast to his arrival, and he didn't doubt that a certain group of three heroines would soon be on their way towards him.

Let them come to him! He just _wanted_ to go and squish them like the tiny little bug-eyed insects they were!

A long tank truck had been abandoned by the driver right in the centre of the road Fuzzy was running through, most probably thanks to the sight of the furious lumpkin himself. Fuzzy did not slow down once he saw the big vehicle obstructing his path: he simply raced for the tanker and literally kicked it in the sky.

A dent was created into the metal and only for a miracle the tank didn't explode right away: once detached from the tractor unit the tank literally _flew_ in the air, doing a parabola trajectory that, unfortunately, was going towards the crowds of fleeing citizen. Most of the people were far from Fuzzy himself, but the tank had been launched enough far to be an actual threat.

And Mr. Gray concluded that he definitely _shouldn't_ have listened to his colleague suggesting him to try out a tiny coffee shop located in the edge of the city once he saw a shadow below him getting bigger and bigger. He and various citizen looked up and screamed when they saw the tank falling towards them. There was no time to escape, it was still too early for the Puffs to be advised: they were doomed.

Mr. Gray closed his eyes and decided to at least face his destiny like a man, standing upright and opening his arms. Ten seconds later, he had to accept the fact that his life had been spared and he opened his eyes to discover just how the heck he had survived.

He gasped and fell on his back when he saw the metal surface of the tank a mere ten centimetres away from his nose.

The tank was _hovering_ over the fearful, yet unharmed citizen, and all the people around him. The object, then, flew away and was deposited nearby, enough far to not be an obstacle for the escaping Townsvillers. The group turned their faces towards the form of the one who had clearly saved their life. One of the Powerpuff Girls, for sure! No one could replicate such a display of strength and speed! Well, in Townsville at least.

However, they soon realized that the kid who was floating and looking at them with a big smile was a boy, not a girl. Not to mention the fact that they were pretty sure that the girls did not have black skin.

The boy waved at them, his smile not leaving his mouth for one second, and he said something in a language no one of the presents was able to understand. Then, he pointed to the other end of the road, where other people were still running away, and when the group realized what he meant they spent no time in lingering on and sped to join the crowds. Mr. Gray followed the crowd.

He had to be honest, he wasn't _that_ surprised to see a new superpowered boy out of nowhere. After all, it was the _second_ time it happened… heh. At this rate, he'd end up getting used to it.

Though, he definitely was not getting used to almost losing his life on a weekly basis.

* * *

Fuzzy slowed down once he saw a figure approach him in the distance. Was that a cop? No, too small… they had sent one of the Puffs, of course! Cowardly humans… and stupid Powerpuffs. They made him furious!

"Hey! Powerpuff! Little brat, I'm going to destroy you!" When he wanted to, Fuzzy could be a villain that didn't waste time in ceremonies.

The 'little brat' turned towards him and flew fast until he was hovering in front of him a few meters away. Now that he could fully take in the view of the newcomer though, Fuzzy found himself confused. _Furiously confused,_ mind you.

"Who are you?! Another kind of puff kid?" he roared. He had heard about the yellow one who had befriended the Powerpuff Girls—it would've been hard not to, even for someone living away from the city—and he wasn't completely taken aback just as Mr. Gray was. Even so, the sight of a dark-skinned puff glaring at him with dauntless, orange-coloured eyes was one that did not leave him unaffected. The boy had a very thin cover of hair covering his head, to the point that he almost looked bald from a distance, and his clothes were limited to a pair orange-coloured shorts, a white tank-top and a couple of brown sandals.

The unidentified puff talked in an intelligible language… a fact that angered the lumpkin even more. Oh, who cared about explanations, he was going to crush this one as well!

And thus, Fuzzy rushed towards the stranger, clawed hands in the air and shouting like a madman. He was a sight to behold, but even so the boy did not relent. In fact, the ghost of a smile appeared on his face.

Fuzzy didn't notice, and thus he only realized that he had made a mistake when his face, nose first, connected with an invisible brick wall. Fuzzy reeled back dizzily, unable to comprehend what had just happened, and he glanced at the boy only to see something blurry in front of him, while he moved his hands in a circular fashion.

He was no nearer to understand what he had done, but one thing was for sure: he was _mad._ Growling, Fuzzy charged again, this time moving sideward and slashing his claws at the stranger. The boy simply evaded every contact with the lumpkin's sharp weapons, and he even started to laugh at him at one moment.

"You little bug! Let me hit you!" Fuzzy roared, switching his swipes to punches and giving the boy no time to rest. Apparently, he had been too confident in himself, because eventually one of Fuzzy's punches hit its mark on the boy's cheek, sending him on the asphalt ahead. The boy had been hit so hard he scraped the entire road for a whopping thirty meters before he came to a halt.

Fuzzy Lumpkins stopped to recover his breath as he waited to see if the stranger was ever going to stand up again. And, indeed, the boy hovered upwards: he dusted his tank top and spitted something out of his mouth, then he smiled again and said something in his weird language. A moment later, he dashed forward.

Fuzzy barely had the time needed to jump away from the coming boy, who flew directly into him. After missing him, Fuzzy moved himself to attack him while he was turned around, but instead of keeping flying forward the stranger turned around and dashed again into him with no apparent care for himself.

Fuzzy's claw finally hit something, but the lumpkin ended up receiving a strong punch in his gut as well, which knocked the wind out of him. He staggered in momentary daze, moving his hands blindly around in an attempt to grab whatever enemy was attacking.

The boy flew upwards and passed a fingerless hand over his face, hissing when he touched it. He then contemplated the red colour that had been left on his palm and chuckled before moving his hands below him, creating a new force field.

When Fuzzy finally managed to recover control of his body, he looked up to see the boy grinning at him. Then, he raised his legs and kicked downwards, and Fuzzy managed to see the shift in the air as the force field somehow moved down _away_ from the dark-skinned boy. It was going to crash into the ground far away from him... what was he trying to—

As soon as the force field impacted with the earth, a quake was released and Fuzzy was flung upwards without any warning, as if the asphalt below him had suddenly turned into a bounce pad. He could only gape while he rotated in the air as the boy, his amused smile still plastered on his pace despite the gash on his cheek, flew towards him just in time to reach him at the peak of his flight. Then, the boy raised both hands and combined them into one, strong punch that hit Fuzzy in the head, sending him in free fall.

A moment later, the boy flew down to check a downed Fuzzy Lumpkins, already reverting to his usual pink fur, and after hearing his breath rate for a moment he simply went and sat over the belly of the beast in wait.

He didn't have to stay alone too long, as people slowly started to appear, curiosity having the best of them. The boy simply smiled and waved, but nonetheless remained where he was even when a police officer approached him and asked him to move so that he could shackle the defeated lumpkin. The officer had no way to talk with him, of course, so eventually he decided to wait it out, since he already knew that people who could deal with him were on their way.

Thus, the sound of sirens was covered by the distinct noise of flying Powerpuffs. The girls arrived at the scene, the citizen immediately making space for them to land: they had already been told about what had happened in the outskirts, but as always looking at the actual aftermath with your own eyes was another thing than being told.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup walked forward, warily approaching the boy, whose eyes had lighted up once he saw the three superheroines appear. He finally left his position above the lumpkin (and the police officers around immediately proceeded to secure the villain) and moved towards the girls to get a better look. Eventually, they all stopped to move.

For a few seconds, the Powerpuffs and the stranger simply bore each other's gaze. The boy's smile didn't leave his face even when he noticed the cautious behaviour of the girls, who didn't look friendly, but he did not open his mouth to speak.

"…well. This may be closer to a déjà-vu than I ever felt," Buttercup finally commented. "I still can't believe it's happening again."

"Girls, stick to the plan," Blossom said. "If we can fix this without another runabout, I'd take that, thank you very much."

Buttercup grunted her approval, and Bubbles nodded. Thus, Blossom sighed and frowned as he looked at the boy. "You!" she called, immediately gaining the boys' attention as she pointed at him. "Can you understand me?"

No answer.

"Under-staaaaand me?" Blossom repeated, pointing at herself. The boy shrugged and finally spoke, but unfortunately neither her nor Buttercup were able to understand a single word, but thankfully they had a sister who could act as a mediator in these kind of situations.

"He said that he does not know English, and that he's sorry," Bubbles immediately translated. "I… can't say what's the language he's speaking. It's some sort of local dialect."

"Mmh-mmh," Blossom acknowledged, still keeping her eyes fixed on the stranger. "We're gonna need you to talk with him again, Bubbles. Tell him that you can translate for him and that, if he means any harm, we'll bring him to justice."

"With or without his approval," Buttercup added.

Blossom sent a glare to her always-spot-on sister, but all she managed to do was making her stick her tongue. A reaction that made the boy giggle, apparently amused by the scene.

Both Blossom and Buttercup recomposed themselves as Bubbles talked with him in his obscure language. "He says that he means no harm, and that he didn't want to make a ruckus in the first place. He heard the man-beast rampaging and decided to give a hand. He also did so because he expected us to come here as well, since he did not know where to find us in the first place."

Buttercup snorted. "bah, too bad, I was looking forward for a brawl with someone who could punch back really."

Blossom didn't share her idea. She looked around the area to see the outcome of Fuzzy's outbreak less than ten minutes before. "He's _helped,_ though. Whatever has managed to make Fuzzy furious today, he was pretty livid… who knows what he would have done before the Mayor called us and arrived here. We do owe him that."

"Ugh, whatever…" Buttercup said, looking away in annoyance. "So what, you're just going to take that as proof that he's not an evil double-crosser?"

"No, of course not, but we can't ignore that, Buttercup," Blossom said. "Look at him. Would you say he's a bad guy?"

Buttercup looked at the stranger, who was still _smiling,_ the she sighed. "Okay, you may have a point here…"

"Heh, compared to Donnie, he seems a little less timid," Bubbles said, smiling. "I think we can leave the plan aside, guys. He doesn't look like he's hiding anything from us."

"That doesn't mean anything, Bubs. It wouldn't be the first time you end up being tricked by someone who looks nice at first…"

"Hey!"

"Girls, girls!" Blossom called her sisters to order. "Let's not get distracted. We still have to be sure that he really has no bad intentions."

The girls looked once again at him. Smile still fixed on his face, he was waiting patiently for them to finish their discussion. He even looked a little excited, as if he was trying to keep his enthusiasm under control to not make a scene, if the way he bit his lips and passed his feet on the road's surface meant anything.

"All right, I guess he does _not_ act like a bad guy," Buttercup said.

"Yes, indeed. You are right though, Buttercup, to keep being cautious… we can't just let him free, we first need to know what he's up to. I mean…" Blossom looked at the boy. "He's… he is _like_ us. He is like Donnie… but he could also be like the Rowdyruffs, or even Decay… I… I'm not sure."

In the end, she turned her gaze away from the stranger to talk with her sisters. "It was weird to see another boy pop out of nowhere. It was weird to see another Rowdyruff-like being created… and now here we are. I don't know what to think anymore… if this starts happening _regularly…"_

"Hey, even if there were twenty of us in the world, we'd still be the very first ones, wouldn't we?" Buttercup said. "That is a bonus they can't take away from us."

Blossom chuckled. "Can't argue with that."

"Besides, Blossom," Bubbles said, "as much strange as it is to see superboys and girls to appear and show up out of nowhere, I don't think it's a bad thing by itself. If deep down they have all well-meaning, like Donnie was, then I'm sure all we'll have to do is getting used to have a few additional super-friends spread all over the world."

"I guess…" Blossom replied, not fully convinced. Then, she shook her head. "I'm getting distracted… we still have to ask him one more question. Bubbles."

She turned towards the boy. "Ask him about his business here. Make sure to highlight he has to tell us _everything."_

Bubbles complied, and as she talked the three girls noticed that the bright demeanour of the boy faltered a little. He, in any case, nodded and proceeded to tell Bubbles the answer they wanted.

"He says that it's a bit complicated, and that he'd need more than just a couple of minutes to explain everything. He understands we can't fully trust him, so to put it simply he wants us to know that he's crossed various countries and an ocean for only one reason."

Before she could finish her speech, the boy did something unexpected: he sat down and looked at the floor, as if he was in shame. Blossom and Buttercup looked questioningly at Bubbles, who simply shrugged.

"He's travelled all the way here because he needs our _help."_

* * *

Professor Utonium was a man that frequently got surprised. Despite the special girls that had turned his life upside down more than a year ago, he was still getting used to the general oddity of their adventures that he sometimes was involved in. Even so, he was still a man of science as well, one that would not have been taken aback by the repetition of a case that had already happened in the past.

For this reason, he had not been left agape when the newscast interrupted the classic movie he was watching on TV and had plastered on the screen the image of a dark-skinned boy fighting with Fuzzy Lumpkins. He was… a bit unprepared, he did not expect it to happen again of course, but he did not freak out.

Thus, when the girls had come downstairs to tell him about the last call from the Mayor, about the fact that somehow there was _another_ super-powered boy in town battling with the villain and no one had any idea who he was or where he came from, he kept his cool. He told them to be careful and make sure to have him explain his intentions before either attacking or befriending him, then as the three girls departed he sat down in wait, his eyes fixed on the newscast.

Thanks to Townsville's media, he was able to follow everything that happened, from Fuzzy being beaten to the Powerpuff Girls' encounter with the stranger. He wasn't able to hear what they were talking about, but when he saw them take off of the sky with the boy in tow, leaving an orange trail behind him, it didn't take him much to guess where they were going.

He _should_ have been prepared for this meeting of sorts, of course… and yet, when the girls opened the door and the boy appeared in his sight, the Professor couldn't help letting out a 'whoa' of amazement.

"Professor…" Blossom began.

"No, Blossom, I… I watched you on the news. I saw everything… though I don't know what you three discussed with our… 'guest' here," the Professor said, passing a hand over his face to calm himself down. "I suppose he doesn't speak English, does he?"

Bubbles nodded. "If you want to tell him anything, I'll translate."

"Well, for now I'll just introduce myself. Hello," the Professor said, kneeling to get to a comfortable height. "My name is Professor Utonium, and I am the creator of the Powerpuff Girls." He offered his hand, but the boy did not move nor speak. And even after Bubbles translated, the boy spoke but did not move his hand.

"I think he doesn't know about the concept of shaking hands," Blossom noticed.

"He said that he is happy to meet you in person, and that he's sorry if his presence here is a bother," Bubbles said.

"Oh, no, no, you're welcome," the Professor said, smiling, standing up. The boy seemed nice… at least, at first sight. "Well, I guess you are… girls?"

"We're still trying to understand what's the deal with him. He doesn't look like he's faking it and he seems sincere for now, I'll give him that. He asked us for our help… but he also said that he'd need some time to explain everything," Buttecup explained. The Professor did not fail to notice that her wild daughter seemed calmer than he would have expected her too… and that Blossom, on the other hand, looked on edge, her eyes lost in thought.

"Blossom?" he said, making the redhead flinch. "Oh, sorry… we're not sure about what to do, not yet. I thought about it and all I managed to conclude is that it'd be fair if we at least told Donnie about him."

The Professor hummed. "That's a good idea. He does at least deserve to know, and if there is any connection he may be able to help you out and give an idea or two on how to tackle this ordeal."

Blossom smiled weakly. "I'll go upstairs to call him, I'll be quick!"

As Blossom hovered over the stairs, the Professor sat down on his armchair and motioned the 'stranger' to do the same on the sofa. The boy wasn't sure how to approach the man, apparently, as he needed a vocal reassurance by Bubbles to accept the invite. Bubbles sat by his side, while Buttercup kept standing by the Professor's side.

"So… has he told you his name yet, girls?" the Professor asked.

"Now that you mention it… no," Buttercup said. Bubbles immediately went and talked in the boy's birth language.

"His name is Nuru. He says that, while he knows how to go back home, he has little idea of the world out of it. He told me he crossed an ocean to get here and he'd seen green forests and deserts before getting over the water."

"Mhh, then I think it's safe to bet he's from Africa," the Professor noted. "Somewhere in the southern part, if what he's seen are indeed the central forests and part of the Sahara Desert."

"If that's the case, though, how did he know what direction to take once flying over the sea to reach Townsville?" Buttercup said, frowning. "It doesn't add up. He could also have taken off over the Atlantic and ended up in Europe, for all we know."

Bubbles and Nuru exchanged words once again. "He says that, once the ocean had been crossed, it was easy to find out about you, since he knew about us even back where he lived," Bubbles said. She thought about it for a moment before continuing, "He's told me also how he knew where to go before reaching the Ocean… but I don't know how to tell you. Something like… his father _saw_ where to go, and he showed him."

Buttercup's frown remained where it was. "I'm still not trusting him, just in case," she said.

Before the Professor could ask more about this supposed 'father' Bubbles had mentioned, Blossom came in between them. Bubbles, Buttercup and the Professor were surprised to see her even more flustered—scared, even—and at first, she didn't even open her mouth to speak.

"Blossom, sweetie?" the Professor asked in concern. "What's wrong? Has something bad happened to Donnie?"

"No… no," Blossom slowly said. "It's… I can't believe it, Professor."

She turned towards her sisters, ignoring Nuru who looked rather confused by the girl's behaviour as well. "Girls… Donnie was going to call me himself. He… he's had a 'guest' as well. Another… one."

When Bubbles and Buttercup realized what Blossom meant, they both opened their eyes wide in shock. "You have to be kidding me!" Buttercup exclaimed.

"That… that's unexpected…" Bubbles said, unsure how to react.

Nuru simply looked at them with a mixture of worry and confusion, unable to comprehend even one word. So, it was the Professor who went to the troubled girls' aid after his own surprise was taken care of, first by putting a hand on Blossom shoulder's and letting her sit on his lap. "Girls, this is… indeed a strange coincidence, one hard to believe. But I'm sure you can get to the bottom of this, about Nuru's problem and whatever this second 'stranger' wants from Donnie."

The girls looked at the Professor, and his confident face made them calm down, even if only a little. "Uh, Blossom… did you tell him about Nuru as well?"

"Yes… sort of. I, uh, may have ranted a little… but he said we need to see each other as soon as possible and bring each of our 'guests' with us, to try to understand what is going on. I agreed with him…"

"So, I take he's coming here right now?" Bubbles said.

Blossom nodded. "He said he had wanted to make another trans-oceanic flight for quite some time. We'll meet him on the peak of the construction yard of the Mayor Tower."

"Well, that's nice," Bubbles smiled as she tried to light up the mood. "We haven't seen him for a month, already… though I didn't think we'd be meeting him _this_ way…"

"I can't still believe it… and I thought I took it well when we got told there was a second one. Now there's a third?" Buttercup blurted out. "And to think I thought about this as a joke…"

As Bubbles started to fill Nuru in with their next decision and Buttercup continued to make exaggerate hypothesises about all of this being a bad prank from his sisters and their European friend, Blossom looked at the Professor again.

"Professor… is this…. all of this… even possible?"

The Professor's answer was firm. "I told you once, Blossom, that I wasn't sure about everything about your creation as well. We had to accept that Donnie existed, and after what happened with that mad scientist back in Ultrapolis, I may even have to ask myself why I didn't expect this to happen sooner."

Blossom looked down, and she let her head lean on the Professor's chest as she hugged him. "I don't know what to do of it… how I should interpret it, react to it. I thought Donnie was an exception… but now this…"

The Professor couldn't bear the sight of her daughter so distraught—he could almost feel her fear for the unknown. "Blossom, listen to me. Even if you went to meet Donnie and you found yourself and your sisters surrounded by two hundred superpowered kids of all skin colours, eye colours, languages, origins… it'd never change the fact that you, Bubbles and Buttercup are special. You weren't just the first to come into this world… you've done so much for Townsville… and I can't even think where I'd be now if it wasn't for you. And that is not going to change, no matter how many people with powers like yours show up."

Blossom's hug tightened a little, and the Professor did his best to cuddle her and make her comfortable. "You can do this Blossom. You can solve even this riddle… go with your sisters and our boy here to meet Donnie and his own guest and try to see what happened and if you can do anything about it. But never forget who you and your sisters are, Blossom… is that clear?"

Blossom looked up. Her eyes were lucid, but there were no wet trails coming down her cheeks, and the Professor concluded he had succeeded in keeping her calm. "Loud and clear…" she managed to whisper.

The Professor chuckled and let her go. With a sigh, Blossom called Bubbles and Buttercup to order and with the help of the former she told Nuru to follow them. Then, the four left the Utonium household and flew high in the sky, going for Townsville's skyline.

Professor Utonium walked out to watch the four trails of colour getting farther and farther. And, with that sight, he couldn't help but wonder just how far the situation was going to get, and if new puffs were going to appear all around the world without control.

He only hoped that whoever decided to try to replicate him next in the future had the best intentions… and that his daughters would have learned to accept it.


	3. Calls for Help

**.**

 _Chapter 3_

 **Calls for Help**

' _This is… awkward.'_

Bubbles normally never felt awkward around people, as much foreign, stranger or unknown as they could be. As long as people were not blatantly rude with her, she was open to spend time with everyone, and as much surprising as it was to see him appear in Townsville, Nuru was no exception to this rule.

Yet, here they were, sitting on the edge of half-built skyscraper that was named after the Mayor. The old man had somewhat convinced the entire city that it was alright to have an entire building dedicated to him, but Bubbles knew that both her and the rest of the citizens were just letting him have some fun. The Mayor was a good man all in all, if only a little naïve, so there was no opposition towards his latest weird request. It was just the nth majestic tower in the already large skyline of the city, after all.

The Mayor was not the cause of the tension that was bugging Bubbles at the moment, though. More than a hundreds meters away from the construction yard below them, the four of them were waiting for the arrival of Donnie and the… _second_ stranger, keeping their eyes fixed on the horizon. Bubbles didn't fail to notice that, while Nuru was mostly confused by the whole ordeal, her sisters were far from feeling comfortable. Buttercup was continuing to grumble under his breath, trying to come up with a logical explanation to the events unfolding, and Blossom had not been saying a single word since they arrived here. It was… _awkward,_ to sit between Nuru and them, as if she was a buffer state between two opposite nations that were on the verge of war.

She made a mental note to try and discuss with them about everything that was going on, but before she could try to start a conversation to ease the atmosphere, Blossom finally spoke up.

"They're here," she simply said, standing up-right. Her sisters did the same, as Nuru once again smiled, apparently excited to see the new arrivals. They could all already watch the yellow beam in the distance, coming nearer and nearer towards them.

And following it right behind there was a _second_ beam, a light-green coloured one. Bubbles would've probably called it 'lime' if she had to choose a specific colour, but she wasn't sure… as much as she already knew it, the sight of the _second_ new arrival was more than enough to leave her impressed.

Buttercup scratched her eyes. "…I still can't believe this is happening."

"Try not to start a fight," Blossom warned. "We first need to make sure what's the deal with both Nuru and Donnie's guest before jumping to conclusions."

Nuru turned towards Blossom at the mention of his name, but his face showed that he had not understood a single word. Bubbles quickly translated for him, and he nodded. She had to admit that Nuru had been quite patient with the girls, despite their wary behaviour towards him. He had been letting them take all the time they needed and he had not protested once against their decisions.

That was nice, in her opinion. And she hoped her sisters thought the same.

Soon, the newcomers arrived. Donnie landed in front of them, and the Powerpuff Girls couldn't help but smile as he said, "Hello, girls!"

In normal circumstances, the greetings would have continued with more salutations, 'how are you?' and possibly hugs much to Buttercup's chagrin, but this was far from being a normal day. Donnie smiled back, but his face remained nonetheless firm as the one accompanying him landed by his side.

Bubbles didn't know exactly what to expect, so she tried to keep an open mind as she took in the image. The second super-powered being was very different from Nuru: she was a girl with black hair, as dark as Buttercup's, cut short to be just a little longer than the boy's accompanying her, and it was kept in place by a coloured hairclip with a flower decoration. Her clothes were identical to the Powerpuff Girls' ones: what really stood out though was the shape of her eyes. They were still larger than the mean and brightly lime-coloured just like her clothes, but they were narrower than the Girls', Donnie's or even Nuru's ones. Almost… almond shaped.

"Girls… this is Huan," Donnie introduced her without further hesitation. Huan raised her hand to wave at the girls timidly: Bubbles could already see that, as much tense as the others were, she was just as nervous as them if not more.

"Uh… hello…" the girl said. "I… nice to meet you. Thank you. Uur… for accepting to meet me."

"Well, you're welcome," Blossom said. "We're the Powerpuff Girls. My name is Blossom, and these are my sisters Bubbles and Buttercup."

Bubbles smiled warmly while Buttercup weakly nodded. "And… well, this is Nuru. The super-powered guy who showed up today in Townsville just like you did in Ultrapolis."

Donnie tilted his head as he looked at Nuru, his eyes as wide as Buttercup's were the first time he had seen him. Huan's reaction was more or less the same, but she visibly tried to keep her composure.

"So, uh, Donnie…" Blossom continued to talk, giving a suspicious look to Huan, "do you have anything to say about her?"

"Not much more than what I told you before," Donnie explained. "She's showed up in Ultrapolis' Town Hall, apparently. You can imagine my surprise when the Mayor called me for an urgent matter and I came into his office only to find her."

"Well, not as much surprised as we were," Buttercup said. "Dude's here had beaten up Fuzzy Lumpkins all by himself before we could even come to stop him."

Bubbles had already explained to Nuru who the guy he had fought with was, so once the name 'Fuzzy' was mentioned he immediately put himself in a sort of victory pose, hands on his hips and straight back, grinning widely. Bubbles failed to stifle a giggle, and even Donnie couldn't help but smile weakly. "Well, you're tough then, I'll give you that," he said, trying to break the ice.

Nuru answered, but unfortunately all Donnie heard was gibberish. "He doesn't know a word of English, unfortunately," Blossom explained.

"I can translate though," Bubbles added. "It's not the best, but at least we _can_ talk with him… if you want to talk with him to get to know him I will—"

"Which is why we need to get to the matter at hand _now,"_ Blossom continued. She fired a hard glare towards Bubbles, to which she responded with an offended gaze.

She had a hunch that, despite Buttercup being the more vocal sister, Blossom was the one that was disturbed the most by the current situation. If anything, that scene with the Professor had to mean something…

"We need to know about both Nuru and Huan… where they come from, why they've come here, and such," she said. "We need to make sure that they're not a threat. So, _Huan…"_

Huan bit her lip once Blossom's gaze shifted on her. "Can you understand what I say? Most of it, at least?"

"Yes… not every word, but I can get the basic meaning."

"Good. You may as well start, if Nuru is not against it. Is he?"

With a little help from Bubbles, Nuru said that it was alright and that he was as curious as the rest of them to hear what Huan had to say. So, the girl started to speak, with the other five kids listening carefully (and Bubbles translating the best she could).

"So… I'm from China," Huan began. "I've come here because I need your help… uh… my siblings are in trouble."

Buttercup couldn't hold it inside. " _What?!_ You have _siblings?!"_ she yelled.

Huan relented a little to the green puff's outburst. "Uh, yes… I do. I have two brothers named Hui and Li, and a sister named Ai."

"Holy cow…" Donnie spluttered. "I… I did not expect that."

Blossom did not comment, but from looking at her face Bubbles could tell she was fighting hard the need to do so. "I… understand."

Huan closed her eyes as she frowned. "I… I've escaped from the place where we lived in. It's a… I don't know, but they were keeping us there, even if we didn't want to stay there."

"Wait, wait, wait. A prison, you say?" Buttercup said.

"A… prison? I guess?" Huan confirmed without confidence. "It was not something under the state's control. I know that because I listened the guards talk about the state more than once, either in your language or in Chinese."

"English? That explains how you've learned it, but why were there even Chinese talking English?"

"They were not all Chinese," Huan corrected. "Most of them were Westerners, at least that is how the Chinese called them. I guess… Americans?"

"So, you're telling us that you and your siblings have been kept under custody in China against your will by a group of people that were mostly American… _in China._ Huan… you have to forgive me, but that's a bit unlikely," Donnie said. "I'm sorry. I can't help but be dubious… I've already had enough bad experiences in the past with super-powered girls."

Bubbles tried to add in her two cents after discussing with Nuru for a few moments once she saw that Huan was getting more and more nervous with the reactions of Blossom, Buttercup and Donnie. "Huan, I _do_ believe you, but I want to know something… how did you and your brothers and sister even end up being captured? Who did create you, anyway?"

Unfortunately, her question had the exact opposite effect as Huan's eyes started to wet. "I… I don't know…"

Buttercup and Donnie raised their eyebrows as Bubbles brought a hand to her mouth. "…how?" Blossom said slowly.

"I don't know!" Huan repeated, this time raising her voice. "I want to know, but I can't, no one of us could! I just remember seeing some right in front of me, then feeling _pain_ all over my body, and when we finally woke up, we were already in the building with the Americans keeping their darn guns aimed at us! And they wouldn't leave us alone, and they kept asking us to do stuff for them and getting blood samples and threatening us and testing us and I couldn't, I cannot…!"

"Hey, hey! Calm down," Bubbles said. She immediately came towards the girl and grabbed her hand without asking for permission from any of the other bystanders. "We're here to help, it's all right… I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you angry."

Huan looked at Bubbles as if she was a ghost. "I… I didn't want to…" she blabbered, before ultimately breaking down and throwing herself at Bubbles, hugging her and crying. Bubbles did her best not to tear up herself and simply accepted her, patting her back as Huan whimpered.

Nuru knew better than to interrupt them, so he waited patiently without a word, while the remaining puffs were left speechless.

"What the heck… I need to breathe for a moment… jeez," Buttercup said, walking away a few steps and taking in a few long breaths. "…wow."

"This is way more complex than I thought," Donnie said, walking beside Blossom. "I guessed she had a problem of sorts bothering her, she had been this tense the entire time since I met her, but I had no idea she was keeping… _this_ inside. Man…"

Blossom frowned. " _Four_ new superpowered beings… and that if we take Nuru doesn't have a few surprises as well. And then this…"

"Not bad?"

Blossom and Donnie whirled around to look at Nuru quizzically, who simply shrugged. At that point, Bubbles, still hugging Huan, spoke up, first in Nuru's language to tell him that he still had a lot to learn to talk with them, but he was making progress. Then, she looked at the others.

"Guys… I don't think she's lying. She can't be faking this up… this is real pain she's feeling," Bubbles said. "We _have_ to help her and her siblings… she's come all the way up to Europe to find Donnie, and then again to come here. Whatever they're doing in China, they're up to no good."

Blossom thought about it a little before nodding. "You're right. We still, uh… need to find out more about whoever did this and how they were created, still, but we have to do something about her siblings."

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Buttercup said, earning a hard glare from both Blossom and Bubbles. "Hey, don't look at me that way! I mean that at this point I'm expecting _everything._ If what she's said it's true, who's to say that what she _doesn't_ know is even more… weird?"

"…right," Blossom said, turning her face back to Huan. The girl had stopped crying, and she finally separated herself from Bubbles. Her warm smile was doing its job in calming the Chinese girl down.

"Huan…" Donnie said, scratching his head. "Sorry about not believing you."

"No… no problem," Huan answered. "I… I do understand your fear."

"I wanted to ask you if you can tell us anything more that could help us… just whatever you think could be useful to know before we get there… only if you feel like it, of course."

Huan nodded. "I don't know much about them… Li told me he's heard one of them talking about someone named 'Gordon', but other than that they were very careful in keeping their mouths shuts when we were around. Actually… when I escaped, the only reason I managed to find you was because one of them once mentioned some kind of failure, and a name: Porter."

Donnie almost jumped in the air, and he momentarily forgot about keeping his cool. " _Porter?!_ As if, Doctor Porter!?"

"Huh-uh, I think so. I didn't understand much, but after leaving I looked up the name and discovered about you and Ultrapolis."

"If that guy is connected with them, then I agree that it's _evil_ we're dealing with…" Buttercup said.

Huan looked at the others one by one as she passed an arm over her eyes. "We _need_ your help. I promised them I would go back… but I can't do this alone. I'm sorry… but I just can't…"

"You don't have to worry about it. We're going to help you, Huan," Bubbles said, putting a hand over her shoulder. "We will get your siblings out and give a lesson to the bad guys who hurt you."

Huan smiled weakly.

"I too!"

All faces turned towards Nuru. He was smiling once again, but there was also determination in his eyes. He still needed to exchange a few words with Bubbles to explain himself. "He says he wants to help Huan as well, guys."

Blossom wasn't fully sure how to take that. Huan seemed sincere, but Nuru was still a matter left to interpretation. "Why? He said he needs our help as well, didn't he?"

"Yeah, what he's saying is that he's got problems as well, but that they can wait and are not as urgent as Huan's. He doesn't mind."

Blossom looked at Nuru once again, trying to study him, but Nuru did not cower under her gaze. She thought about it for a little, weighing her options, before sighing.

"I guess he should come anyway. We can't really let him stay here by himself…"

After hearing the translation, Nuru clapped his hands and repeated one word three times. "'thank you', that's what he's saying," said Bubbles. "He's grateful we're giving him a chance."

"Tell him 'thank you' for me, too, if you can…" Huan said. "I… I don't even know what to say… I'll repay all of you, somehow."

Before Buttercup's eyes could turn into dollar signs, Blossom cut it short. "Don't mention it. That's what the Powerpuff Girls do."

The green puff grumbled under his breath but nodded, as Bubbles said, "We're here to help anyone who needs so."

"And believe me, Huan…" Donnie added, gesturing towards the girls. "Speaking from personal experience: you couldn't have chosen better help."

Huan took in the view as the Powerpuff Girls, with Donnie on one side and Nuru on the other, all smiled. It finally dawned on her that she was no more alone, but there were six of them now.

Another tear ran down her cheek as her thoughts went back to the ones she had to leave behind.

' _I am coming, guys… hold on, just a little longer…'_

"So…" Buttercup said, crossing her hands. "When are we leaving to pay a little visit to the baddies in Asia?"

Blossom thought deeply for a few seconds, holding her chin with one hand while resting the elbow on the other arm.

"We'll tell who needs to know and prepare the little we need," she decided eventually, "then we'll leave _today._ Come on girls… and guys," she said, correcting herself at the last moment.

" _It's time to roll out!"_


	4. The Unknown Enemy

**.**

 _Beginning Part One_

 **THE EASTERN DRAGON**

* * *

 **AN:** _Planning the rest of this story has been hard. At first, I really hoped I'd be able to tackle this story more easily than this, but a combination of various problems has made me realize this was not the case._

 _The story is going to be divided in three parts. While the second and third ones are still to be fully outlined, I've decided to reconsider the length of the first part: I went for a shorter, but more 'to-the-point' version of it. Hopefully, this will help me with the update rate._

* * *

 _Chapter 4_

 **The Unknown Enemy**

Why was he there again?

Oh, yeah, he technically _worked_ there. But then, what had made him accept this role in the first place?

The salary? Puah! Some genius thought that was!

Kovic cursed the day he made the decision to join the ranks of the company, then resumed his march to continue the patrol. He had been assigned to a task he considered utterly boring by itself, but having to walk back and forth in the outer perimeter of the base, where there was no one but the occasional pigeon to keep you company? He was sincerely surprised he had not lost his mind yet.

The fact that he was not a fan of the country in the slightest didn't help, either… the climate, primarily. Despite the fact they were at least half a kilometre away from Yanjing's far confines, his throat was still making it way harder to breathe than it should be, as the air wasn't exactly healthy.

He coughed, cursing to himself again, and glanced at the sky. The evening was approaching, but it was not quite dark yet. It'd still be one hour before the next shift change… he may as well try to distract himself by focusing on the job. If it wasn't for the blasted sore throat…

Kovic was so fixated on his recent misfortunes that the noise of leaves rustling took him completely by surprise. He scrambled back, agitating his rifle between his hands before he was able to get a good grip on the handle and aim for the source of noise. "Who's there!?" he immediately shouted.

No answer came. Kovic considered his options… who could be so stupid to try and approach the base from this direction? Behind him there was electrified razor-wire and guard posts every quarter of a kilometre. The Chinese knew this was a militarized area…

He repeated his question, but this time he spoke with a bad Chinese… possibly the only words he had learned since his arrival in the city. And yet, there was still no answer… but the noises resumed.

Kovic mentally wished every bad thing to the guy who had decided to put patrols in the scrub, then started to walk towards the bush area. "I will shoot if you don't answer! Who's there?!" he shouted again in English.

As even his third attempt didn't bring any results, Kovic realized that he just had to inspect the problem himself and hope there was no secret agent waiting for him with a silenced pistol. He continued to walk slowly as he drew out a tactical torch and silently put it on his rifle. When he was right in front of the bush, he turned on the torch, prepared a finger on the trigger and used his other hand to grab a group of twigs inside the bush. With one swift sweep, he tore off most of the bush's higher parts, revealing whatever was hiding below.

Kovic's eyes widened when he discovered that the cause of his latest worry was not an enemy intruder… and it was not human, either. A rat, dazzled by the sudden light, squeaked in protest and ran between the befuddled guard's legs, disappearing before Kovic could even launch an insult at it.

Before he could wrap his mind about what had just happened, Kovic heard footsteps. In his confusion, he immediately turned towards the noise while aiming his rifle.

"Hey, slow down, Kovic! I know we're not exactly friends, but that's a bit uncalled for even for you."

Kovic lowered the weapon, even though a part of him would've liked not to. "Recker. What are you doing here?"

"I've been sent to get you. What were you even doing? Did you start rat-watching or what?"

"Recker, I am _not_ in the mood. State your business and then get out of my sight," Kovic's patience had been particularly low that day.

"Oh, all right. I received orders to retrieve all guardsmen on this side of the perimeter and send them back to the base. You're the last one, actually."

"Back?" Kovic's interest perked up. "What's the catch?"

"None that I know of. There are going to be garrison shifts between all the facilities under the company's control. Don't take my word about it, but I heard that this is all General Gordon's idea. Apparently, he didn't take the loss of one of his 'belongings' well."

Kovic found himself agreeing with the annoying man. "You can say that. I was here when it happened two weeks ago. I was sure we were under attack or something for a moment."

"Good thing I was elsewhere at the time, then," Recker simply said. "Let's go. You can continue your new hobby later, Kovic."

Kovic growled but decided to ignore the last statement of the other guard, since he had brought him good news. With some luck he would get something less boring for him… and more bearable for his throat. Away from Recker, he hoped.

The two guards walked side by side without further words, moving towards the centre of the base. They were none the wiser that someone had been listening to their discussion the entire time… though, it was not a human that had eavesdropped them.

The _same_ rat that had taken aback the first guard jumped out of another bush. It looked at the guards as they got away for a moment before ultimately leaving. As little as it was, the animal knew exactly where to go and how to move around, and he needed little time to pass through the rare undergrowth areas and cross the more common roads, making its way towards the outskirts of Yanjing.

Yanjing was a Chinese city with not too much to envy the most Western cities. If it'd wanted to, the rat would've been able to admire the skyline even from his current position, kilometres away from the city centre and showing that this was indeed an economical powerhouse. The animal, however, was not interested in the slightest, as its destination was actually a pretty ordinary alley in the outskirts. Evading walking citizen and traffic, the rat finally managed to reach its target.

There, the animal was welcomed by a blonde girl with pigtails.

"Dingus! You're here!" Bubbles exclaimed cheerfully once she spotted the rodent trotting towards her. She kneeled and, once the rat was in front of her, she started to squeak with him.

Buttercup was not impressed by the display of communication skills, thinking it simply looked weird… and dumb. Giving a glance to her sister, she didn't saw much in Blossom that showed she agreed with her, but as for the other three bystanders…

Donnie was the only one who had already been told about Bubbles' special power. Yet, this was still the first time he had had the chance to witness to it first-hand. Currently, he was staring at the blonde Powerpuff Girl with wide, incredulous eyes.

Huan and Nuru were in similar states of disbelief. "You get used to it after a while," Buttercup said, "Trust me."

Once they were finished 'conversating', Bubbles smiled and petted the rat a little. The rat looked up, showing its teeth in approval, then promptly turned around and ran away.

"He's, uh… already going?" Donnie asked.

"Yep. He got sight of a food carriage or something like that not far from here. He didn't want to miss it!" Bubbles explained.

"Right, now about more important matters… what did your friend discover, Bubbles?" Blossom demanded, tapping her feet on the ground. They had been waiting for quite some time: Bubbles had barely managed her sisters as well as the others to use Dingus' help, and since they had managed to get in Yanjing without being spotted by any of the citizen Blossom had ultimately decided to grant her a chance. She had not told her rodent friend about it, but she knew that if he had not made it in time the redhead would've decided to leave.

Bubbles took in a long breath, as if preparing for a long explanation. "Well, Dingus managed to eavesdrop two men while moving around the base. I'll tell you, rats have an actually good memory in memorizing sounds, even those of languages they're not used to hear, and Dingus—"

"Bubbles. Get to the point," Blossom cut her off.

Bubbles huffed but kept on speaking without arguing. "So, Blossom, I was right when I said that the place where Dingus saw those soldiers was the same one where Huan was being kept—Dingus said that while listening to them the guards mentioned the incident about her disappearance."

While Blossom, Buttercup and Donnie listened, and Nuru basically looked over in wait for a quick translated recap after Bubbles was done, Huan moved forward. Bubbles immediately knew that she was apprehensive, and it didn't take a genius to understand what she was worried about.

"Did they also say anything about my siblings?" the Chinese puff tentatively asked.

Bubbles sighed. "Yes, they did. Huan… I'm sorry. They're no more there… they've been moved to another base, according to those guards. There's the same guy you mentioned back in Townsville, Gordon. He's a general, and he was the one who decided to do this after you left."

Huan brought her hands to her mouth, possibly silencing a yelp. Then, she turned around.

Before Bubbles could try to go and comfort her, Blossom pressed on with another question. "Anything else, Bubbles? Where they are now? What's the plan of these guys?"

Bubbles shook her head. "The guards only briefly talked about it. I don't know much more than that."

"I think that'll be enough," Buttercup said. "I take that the general guy is the boss, right? If we strike him, we deal with the problem at its root… and _bam,_ the entire company is done for!"

"It's possible but remember that we also have to help Huan and her siblings here, Buttercup. If we just went and attacked, they may react harshly, too harshly…" Donnie noted.

"Yeah, that's true, but they don't know we're coming though. They won't have time to react! We gotta go know while we can, it's the best we can do right now!"

"It's a _stupid_ idea."

Buttercup and Donnie turned towards Blossom. "Excuse me?" Buttercup said, her nerves heating up.

"It's _stupid,"_ Blossom repeated without much in the way of going around the subject. "We can't risk it, like Donnie said, and more importantly, we can't go after them _blindly._ We still don't know what these guys are capable of. They mentioned _Doctor Porter_ , that's what Huan told us, you want to go against whatever that mad scientist 'has lent' them?"

Buttercup frowned. "That's different! That guy took us by surprise, now it's us that can do the surprise attack."

Blossom narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to let you mess up the plan _,_ Buttercup. _That's final."_

"What!? Why would I—" but Blossom was already looking elsewhere, deep in thought and ignoring her.

Before Buttercup could retort, Donnie approached her. "Wait,"he whispered.

" _Wait?_ She just straight told me off for no reason at all!" Buttercup whispered back, gesticulating at her sister.

Bubbles, who had quietly explained the situation to Nuru, walked up to Buttercup. "Buttercup, seriously. Something's wrong with Blossom."

"Wrong?" the green puff glanced at Blossom. She saw her scratching the back of her head, playing with a tuft of hair, passing a hand over her eyes. "You mean what she talked about with the Professor? I guess… but wouldn't she already be over it at this point?"

"As of now, I don't think so… we should talk to her about it."

Blossom turned back towards them. "I… don't believe there's a good enough way to approach the situation right now. We don't know where either your siblings are, Huan, nor do we know where we can find General Gordon, and both would be true even if they were in the same military compound. So, we need more info…"

" _I can give you that."_

It was not one of the puffs that spoke. Their reaction was instant: all of them instantly jumped and hovered in the air. While Huan hastily looked around in fear, the other five puffs were already ready for battle, fists ready, and once they located the figure who addressed them they charged up various energy attacks.

"Wait, hold on! I am not an enemy!" the figure said, stepping back a little. The puffs studied him: he was a man no older than thirty, dressed in a military uniform complete with a pistol in its holster.

"It's going to take more than that to gain our trust!" Bubbles firmly affirmed.

"I mean it. I come here because I want to help you," the man continued talking. "I know why you're here and I can give you the _information_ you seek. We can be partners."

The puffs stayed silent for some seconds, before Blossom finally said, "Well, _partner,_ let's begin our partnership by putting that pistol down and pushing it towards us, would you?"

The man seemed to not appreciate the answer, given that he did not smile. Nevertheless, he complied with the redhead's order, slowly pulling the pistol out, putting it down and then giving it a push with his foot towards the puffs.

Only at that point Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup and Donnie let the energy attacks die down in their hands. Nuru needed more reassurance by Bubbles before he let the bright-orange bolts in his hand vanish.

Buttercup landed near the pistol and immediately crushed it under her foot. "Now, you can talk. What do you want?"

The man tightened one of his fists at the sight but did not shout. "I… come here as an ally, as I said."

"Really?" Blossom eyed the man's uniform. "You are American, and you wear a military uniform with an emblem that does not leave space to interpretation. You are under the command of General Gordon, aren't you?"

"I _was,"_ the man specified. "When I joined the ranks of Gordon's company, I thought things would be different for me… but I realized that I was wrong and that the job was more trouble that it was worth. So, I deserted and hid while looking for a way to leave the country… then, I hear of you, and I see the chance I was waiting for."

"Wait, slow down. You _knew_ we were here?" Blossom questioned.

"News in a city as big as Yanjing can travel very fast, especially if you know the right people. Without the company keeping track of every one of my moves, it was easy to get to know quite a few people around here. You can guess the rest."

"How's that even possible?" Donnie crossed his arms. "We've not just flown into the city. There were _six_ of us making sure that no one saw us."

"As much hard as you tried to hide yourself, it was the six of you against the millions of inhabitants of Yanjing. You could probably hide from the Chinese authorities or even Gordon, but from every pair of eyes in the entire city? That would be hard even for you."

Buttercup was still scowling. "Why would you even want to meet us? If you're looking for a way out of China from us, I have bad news for you."

"No, I wouldn't have expected it. In fact, there's just one thing that preventing me from leaving, and that is Gordon himself and his company. Their relationship with China's government is what gives him so much power around Yanjing, and any kind of damage to that would be helpful to get the heck out of here."

Buttercup scoffed. "If you believe we're just going to trust your words without further proof, you might reconsider your—"

"What _kind of_ information do you have?"

Buttercup coughed her own words. "Blossom? What are you—"

"Hush! Let him talk."

Buttercup would have really liked to assault her sister in a brawl, but common sense for once had the better on her. That, and Bubbles putting a hand on her shoulder.

The man appreciated the opportunity. "Thank you. You may call me Rackham if you like. I happened to be assigned to one of the major bases in the company's web of facilities… the same one where the General's headquarters are located. The same one where _her siblings,"_ he pointed at Huan, who had been silent the entire time, "have been locked up."

Huan couldn't help it as she hovered in the air towards the man. "You saw them?!"

"I did not. They're held in an extremely high security part of the facility, one built specifically for the occasion. The 'belongings', as I heard Gordon calls them, are very much important for the General… but even so, getting to them is not hard once you know your way around the place… which I know. And you have superpowers… which you have."

"So, you can offer to tell us where to go and how to approach it, that's it?" Donnie said.

"Essentially, yes." The man nodded.

"Blossom, I know we don't really know much right now, but you can't just trust this man out of nowhere. Right?"

Blossom looked at Buttercup for a moment. She opened her mouth to speak, but Rackham beat her on it.

"You can't, but why wouldn't you? As soon as my ex-fellows find me, I am dead. I am also dead if Chinese policemen decide to take me in and I am recognized as one of Porter's men. I even came here while wearing a uniform that could do more harm than anything at this point just to show I speak the truth."

"Let's say you _do speak_ the truth, then," Blossom said. "Why shouldn't we just get what we want then knock you out?"

"Because _Damian Gordon_ knows you're coming."

The Powerpuff Girls were taken aback by the statement. "That's… impossible!" Donnie blurted out.

"It's possible… he doesn't know you _six_ are here, technically. Yet, he knows you'll come… or better, _you, will come,"_ he said, turning towards Huan. The girl cowered under the man's gaze.

"The General knows that the escapee will return to rescue her siblings, and he's preparing for it. Moving his three remaining 'belongings' to headquarters was part of his plan, and he won't stop at that. Sure, I can tell you where HQ is and then you could just tie me up and leave me somewhere… but then, you'd go blind against him and whatever he has in store for you."

Rackham extended his arms. "So, that's my offer. Help me gain a chance at leaving China in one piece by striking Gordon, and I'll help you deal with him and save your friends."

The puffs looked at the man as he waited for an answer. Their ideas about him were quite diverse: surprisingly, the one who looked warier of trusting him was Nuru, even with Bubbles' explanations about his will.

"Nuru says he doesn't like him at all. He 'reeks of trouble', I quote," she said.

"I can't argue with you," Buttercup said while looking at the black skinned puff, who simply nodded even if he didn't know what she was talking about. "I've seen worse in Townsville, but I just don't feel this guy. He just… showed up, just as we needed someone like him. It's too perfect."

"Yeah… but I'm not sure if we can pass on such a chance anyway, though," Donnie said.

"There is _always_ another way, if you look hard enough," Bubbles said. "You don't always have to beat the monster up with brute force or with a cunning plan. You might even be able to talk it out and have him leave."

Donnie nodded, not finding anything to counter her logic. "Blossom, what about you?"

Blossom was still looking at Rackham while Donnie, Bubbles and Buttercup talked. She didn't turn around even when her name was called: Bubbles could practically see the cogs rotating in her head, her forehead furrowed. "Blossom?"

Only after a few seconds did they notice that, ahead of Blossom, Huan was looking at Rackham as well. The man wore a neutral face and seemed unperturbed as Huan continued to stare at him for a few seconds, then looked back towards the other puffs, her eyes teary.

"Blossom… guys… _please."_

Bubbles would have liked to go and explain to Huan that following Rackham wasn't guaranteed to get her sister and brothers back. That there could be complications and incidents, that Rackham may not have told them everything he knew or thought of doing.

But she had no chance to say anything, as Blossom let out a long sigh.

"Very well. We will listen to you Rackham, and you may guide us to the facility. But after all of this is done, don't expect us to leave a good word for you."

Rackham nodded in satisfaction. "We better get going now. Every passing second General Gordon becomes more and more dangerous… and there's no way to tell what he has prepared to protect his 'belongings'. Whatever his final goal is, we have to act now… before it's too late."


	5. Inside the Lair

**.**

 _Chapter 5_

 **Inside the Lair**

Blossom had been keeping an eye on the outer perimeter of Gordon's Headquarters for half an hour by now. She had already memorized the guards' patrol paths as well as the time they spent walking, checking their surroundings and, sometimes, talking through their radios. The security level was high, as the guards frequently contacted each other, and she didn't need to be a genius to figure out they would need to be fast in order to not be caught as soon as they moved in.

Rackham had told them the truth, for what she had been able to see, but she knew better than to trust him. Buttercup was right, at least this once—a deserter appearing out of nowhere was just too fishy. But believing him was also the only alternative to a blind attack on General Gordon and whatever he had in store for them. She just didn't want to make a move without having at least some kind of knowledge about their enemy.

But really, what did she know about it all?

"Blossom?"

She didn't turn around. "I'm busy."

That wasn't enough to shoo away the intruders, as two different people sat on both sides of her. Blossom stubbornly kept her eyes fixed on the guard who, thanks to her powered vision, she could see was inspecting his assault rifle. Perhaps she should've worried about possible additions to those weapons made to counter them, or even all-new types of weaponry. Just how far did the collaboration between Doctor Porter and General Gordon go? And what could he—

"Blossom… please. I… I mean, we wanted to talk with you. We're worried about you."

Blossom sighed. "I'm fine, Bubbles."

"No, you're not," Buttercup stated with her usual tact. "There's something that's been bothering you, I'm not the Professor but I can see it as well Bloss."

"It's not like you can actually _understand it,_ Buttercup," she replied with annoyance. "Leave me alone, I must keep controlling the patrols. I want to know as much as possible about what we're going against."

She felt something shifting beside her. Buttercup had not liked her retort, but Bubbles stepped in to stop her from replying with an even harsher response. "Blossom, please… we don't have to argue about it. Just… tell us about it. We can _try_ to talk, at least."

The sincerity in Bubbles' words managed to weaken Blossom's stubbornness. Momentarily distracted, she simply said, "It's… it's not something I want to talk with you. I have to deal with it myself."

"We can help you, though!" Bubbles insisted. "Blossom, maybe I don't know exactly what you've been thinking about, but if whatever is bothering you has to be with, urr… everything that happened, and the such… well, it's something I've been thinking about as well."

Blossom's attention fully diverted from the patrol paths to her sisters as she faced Bubbles. Bubbles… bothered? She had literally been the first one to approach Huan and Nuru with open arms. She had supported Huan when she let her emotions have the better of her and she had been helping Nuru non-stop practicing English. She was _far_ from looking mystified by the events unfolding.

Bubbles had to have realized Blossom wasn't convinced, because she quickly added, "I mean, Blossom, maybe I can't understand it, like you said to Buttercup, but I know what _I feel,_ and a lot has happened that's not easy to digest. You know, two strangers show up in Townsville out of nowhere, and they're exactly like us, like Donnie: superpowers and all. Now it's _six_ of us… and there's more, Huan's siblings, who we have yet to meet! And then we could even count the Rowdyruff Boys, or the evil girl that Donnie fought months ago. They… just keep coming. That's a lot to take in."

"Yeah, by now I wouldn't even be surprised to see more people show up," Buttercup commented, deciding to press on despite Blossom's previous hostility. "Who knows what may happen later on at this point."

Blossom stayed silent for a moment. "The Professor told me we're special, and that we should not forget about it. But I can't help think about what all of this means. Donnie, Huan and her siblings, Nuru, the ruffs… all of them. I thought we were unique, that we had our place in the world. Look what happened when Dick Hardly tried to replicate us… I thought the Rowdyruffs or even Donnie were exceptions, but now…"

"Hey, I believe the Professor, Blossom. It might be hard to adjust to a world where we're no more the only ones with powers like ours, but we can make it. We're still the first technically, right?" Bubbles said. "That has to count."

"Heh, now that you mention it Bubs, everyone is a kid compared to us," Buttercup smiled at the thought. "Looks like they all have to learn from the real combat master here sooner or later."

Bubbles giggled. "I'm sure Nuru would be happy to test himself out with you. He seems eager to get in a fight as much as you."

"We shall see about that," Buttercup replied with a grin. Blossom couldn't help but smile, albeit weakly. Her thoughts soon turned dark again, though.

"I wonder what's behind Huan's and Nuru's creations, though. Why they came to be in the first place…"

Out of her words, Blossom seemed to be simply _curious,_ perhaps interested in knowing about their new acquaintances' creation as a way to deal with her feelings. But deep down, Blossom had more pressing thoughts on her mind. Questions about the history of Chemical X, the substance that led to their creation in the first place thanks to the Professor. They were supposed to be unique because _Chemical X_ itself was a mystery to science, an exceptional substance with no equal in the world… until Donnie came to their life, and consequently they discovered that Unidentified Y existed as well.

And now that Nuru and Huan were here too… Blossom's doubts had become more insistent, nagging her and demanding an answer.

"Nuru has mentioned his, uh, 'Professor' a few times while talking with me. He seems like a nice man from what I heard of him, but he told me he was going to tell us more about him and their problem once Huan's own predicament was solved," Bubbles said. "I'm sure Nuru has no need to lie to us, Blossom, and Huan too. She's gone through a lot."

Blossom looked at Bubbles. The girl was visibly trying her best to help her feel better, she couldn't deny it. Heck, she had to have gotten Buttercup to join her, which was an achievement by itself.

But she couldn't bring herself to talk with them about this issue anymore. Not now that they were close to begin a possibly dangerous mission.

"Thanks, Bubbles," Blossom said. "I'll try to think about it."

She immediately turned towards Buttercup before she could stand up, "Oh, and sorry about before, Buttercup. I wasn't thinking things through."

"Don't mention it. It's not like you did not think things through before."

Blossom needed half a second to realize that Buttercup had just thrown a new jab at her. "Hey!"

Buttercup simply winked at her while grinning and Blossom failed to get angry at her. Oh, sometimes she even envied the way her sister could deal with things.

Sometimes.

Blossom was going to resume her task when a fourth voice chimed in. "Girls? Am I interrupting something?"

Behind them was Donnie, who seemed a bit wary to interject in whatever the three Powerpuffs had been talking about. "No, no, we've finished the therapy session, Donnie," Buttercup quickly explained ironically.

Blossom stood up to face him, both sisters still beside her. "You think it's time to move, right?"

Donnie nodded, giving a glance behind him. Nuru was exercising himself with some moves, while Huan was sitting nearby in a second position with a view on the base by herself. "I think that there's no need to procrastinate our entrance anymore. I'm beginning to get nervous, too."

Blossom made a fast recount of the little info she had mustered while spying on the base from a distance.

"Very well, let's do it," she proclaimed. "Remember the plan, all of you, and we'll make this work."

* * *

Cooper sincerely believed in his job. Most of all, he sincerely believed in the five-digit number that was his monthly salary for working in Gordon's private military company. That was one of the reasons why he had always been one of the most relentless soldiers on patrol duty at Headquarters. He was dead serious on making sure everything worked and that there were no suspicious derailments from standard protocol, especially if that made it more and more possible to see the above-mentioned salary cross the six-digit mark.

That was possibly a good reason why, when he thought he had heard some kind of noise coming from outside the perimeter, he didn't think twice about inspecting the surroundings. He had already caught a civilian in the past sneaking where he shouldn't have, and he was pretty darn sure he'd do it again. He signalled his current partner to do the same in silence, and he complied. He had his fair share of companions that didn't share his ideas on good behaviour, but for what he had seen Barney Troyes, nicknamed BT, didn't seem to be the type he usually argued with.

Cooper couldn't know that, this once, simply moving towards the source of distraction was poor judgement on his part. Rifle raised, he simply walked out of the patrol path and towards the steel grating fence that encircled the entire compound. He turned on the tactical torch and put a finger on the trigger, mentally daring whatever had caused the disturbance to show itself so that he'd have an excuse to put a bullet in its head. His only regret was that, being it already deep in the night, he would not have had the visibility he would've wanted in such a situation, but such was life.

He walked towards the fence with his partner behind until he was right in front of it. There seemed to not be anything wrong in the surroundings. The concrete cover on their side left few hiding places… on the other side, an artificial barren band of ground did the same for over fifty meters. There was no way someone could sneak in, cross the space, cut the fence with proper tools and enter without being caught by a patrol.

Yet, Cooper still had to accept that there was a _hole_ in the fence. The image was so unexpected that he uttered, "What in the bloody –?"

There was a darn hole, he couldn't believe it but it was right there. And it didn't look like it was cut shears or what. It looked like the steel had been _opened with sheer force,_ like something had went _through_ it.

"This is… wrong! Call HQ, now!" even BT seemed distressed by the sight, and Cooper couldn't blame him. He almost scrambled to get the radio going, but before he could even open the call he saw something. Two eyes, glowing green.

Buttercup was quick. Cooper couldn't even shout the alarm that she had already punched him with a fist right on his face, knocking him out in one hit and sending him sliding on the concrete floor. The other guard could only gape, and before he could react he felt his legs giving in to a kick. He fell to the floor and saw two pairs of additional glowing eyes, one blue and one orange, before he was knocked out as well.

"We better move them out of the way, or they'll end up being discovered before Blossom can move in," Bubbles said. She looked at the unconscious men thoughtfully. "I hope you didn't hit him too bad, Buttercup."

Buttercup effortlessly lifted the man Bubbles was taking about, then raised an eyebrow. "Hey, it's hit or be hit here. Besides, even you can see that these guys are up to no good. Heck, these weapons are things even Mojo Jojo would approve of."

Bubbles had to admit she had a point. These men were well-armed with rifles way more advanced that your usual Townsviller thug, and even if she didn't share her sister's interest in weaponry she knew that there were few reasons to see such a lineage of guns on guardsmen.

She gave a glance to Nuru, the one who had knocked out the second guard, as he followed Buttercup with his own victim. While communication between him and Buttercup was still mostly possible thanks to Bubbles' help, he had been quick in learning the 'rules of battle', as Buttercup called them. They were becoming friends real quick… maybe a bit too quick. She didn't know if she could handle two Buttercups.

"C'mon, Bubs, let's move. Ugh, I can't believe I'm even making an effort to stay sneaky."

"But have good hit!" Nuru tried as an answer. Buttercup glanced at him and somehow understood what he meant. "Yeah, that's true. Still, the only reason I've not started zapping things around is because of Huan and her siblings. Or else, you would've truly seen my way of handling things, Nuru!"

Nuru smiled, though it was clear he had understood little of her sentence. There was no time to translate, though, as the three soon heard footsteps approaching them behind a corner, the second patrol squad. One thing was right in what Rackham had told them: there were lots of bad guys protecting Headquarters.

Buttercup only wanted to see how these dudes fared in a proper fight. For now, though, she had to stick to the plan while navigating this part of the huge military compound, and hope Blossom knew what she was doing.

* * *

Rackham's information had proved correct. The joint efforts of Blossom and Donnie had helped them overcome the perimeter without a single hitch, passing through the patrols that their source had accurately described. According to him, the road towards Huan's siblings was plain sailing from now on. And she didn't like it.

That was one of the reasons why she had decided to split the group up. As far as he knew, Rackham would expect them to attack together, so she had decided to muster a second team with her two sisters and the orange puff to infiltrate the other side of Gordon's headquarters after they left the man be… which meant in a place far enough that he'd be unable to make contact with Gordon before they could move in. In case he had wanted to trick them all along, they would have a second team ready to jump in action where they didn't expect them to go. She only hoped that Buttercup wouldn't blow their cover up too fast, but despite everything she believed that she wouldn't do it in this situation.

"Okay, this way. We have one minute to cross the space before the next patrol. After that, we get inside the building," Blossom asserted. Donnie nodded his approval, but she had to look over their companion to see her confirmation as well.

Huan looked nervous, which was to be expected. Unlike Nuru, she had no combat experience as far as she knew. She didn't know much about her own powers either except for standard (at this point) flight, which could be a problem. However, getting her in the mission was a necessary step: first, because she had no idea what was the state of Huan's siblings after their sisters' escape, and she would act as a buffer in case problems arose during the first meeting with them. Second, because she wanted to watch the possible reunion herself.

She still wanted to have direct confirmation that there were additional puffs living, and that they were on the good side.

"Heads up, Huan," Blossom said. "We're already in. Just do what we talked about, and we'll get your siblings out before you know it."

"Okay," Huan responded weakly. Blossom deemed it enough, and with a gesture he signalled her and Donnie to follow her. They only needed ten seconds to cross the plaza and reach the other side, too fast for any guard or spotlight to notice. Fast as hawks but silent as owls, the puffs quickly made their entry into the main part of the facility and started to quickly fly across the corridors, Blossom leading the way for Donnie and Huan as she had mentally memorized Rackham's instructions.

' _Two turns left. One turn right. Pay attention to the sleeping quarters, then find the stairs and go down one level. And…'_

Blossom halted. He made another hand signal and she and her two companions flew upwards. They reached the ceiling and sprawled themselves across it, limiting the space they were occupying. Soon, footsteps were heard, and below them they saw a patrol squad of five coming from a crossing hallway and moving below them.

Thanks to their position, the guards did not appear to notice them. Blossom paid attention to them, trying to see if any of them would suddenly decide to look up, but it seemed like they were far more preoccupied checking what was at their own level. She didn't fail to notice that these soldiers looked far tenser compared to the ones she had seen outside. Another thing Rackham had actually mentioned: security would progressively get tighter as they got closer to Gordon's 'belongings'.

Four of the guards wore standard uniforms and wielded American-manufactured assault rifles, but the central man took Blossom's attention. The soldier wore body armour from head to toe, giving him a bulky appearance that almost made him comparable to Fuzzy Lumpkins in size. She was pretty sure the guy would be able to withstand an explosion right in his face with his current attire.

It was quite an impressive image, but Blossom had to stop herself from letting out a yelp when he saw the weapon the soldier was holding. It was a light-machine gun, but it wasn't the gun type or even the specific, which she wasn't an expert of, that had surprised her.

On the side of the weapon, she saw an attachment: a glowing bulb containing something liquid, green in colour. On it, a letter could be read: _'W'._

Blossom turned her head to look at her two companions. Donnie was keeping his silence, quietly looking down at the patrolling guards, but Huan seemed on the verge of blowing up. That was enough to confirm her first thought about what the attachment was there for, but before investigating further she first had to calm her down.

She quietly hovered towards her, keeping her body as close to the ceiling as possible, and proceeded to put a hand on her shoulder. Huan looked up to her in surprise and even fear, but Blossom simply looked back sternly, bringing her other hand to her own mouth to show that she wanted her to keep silent. Huan's lips trembled, but she stopped shaking.

Soon, the guards were meters away from them, and took another turn, disappearing from sight. The three puffs hovered down.

"Huan. Is there something you have not told us yet?" Donnie immediately asked. Evidently he had not failed to notice Huan's behaviour as well, beating Blossom on the question.

"I-I told you everything, I promise!" Huan immediately defended himself.

"Then explain why you almost panicked right when you were supposed to be silent," Blossom said.

Huan looked back and forth between Blossom and Donnie. Even the boy, who had mostly been friendly towards her, now seemed to have changed his demeanour. "I did not… I just—Blossom, Donnie, please believe me! I just saw that… green liquid thing and I couldn't help it!"

"That's not an explanation!" Donnie reprimanded firmly. Even Blossom found herself looking at him in surprise. "What was that green liquid, Huan?"

"I-I don't know! I, uh, I saw them use it in the past, when I was being held with my siblings, and one of the guards once threatened us by saying he wanted to turn our heads into Swiss cheese or something. He told us our powers wouldn't help against 'the little bonus attachment on their guns'."

' _So that's at least supposed to make their bullets stronger,'_ Blossom thought. They would have to watch out for it for sure.

Donnie seemed to recompose himself, as if he himself had noticed he had somewhat lashed out. "That… explains it a little," he said slowly.

Huan seemed in visible distress now. "I… was scared, because that same day, Ai tried to rebel. And t-they shot him. They shot his leg. I-I…"

She failed to keep talking and tried to stifle her sobs, though her tears were still clearly visible. Blossom couldn't help feeling sympathy for her. That was a detail Huan had never told them about… and considering the amount of time she had seen her own sisters injured in their life spent fighting evil, she had at least an idea of how she felt.

Donnie looked like he had seen a ghost. He stepped back from Huan, his eyes wide. "Oh, dang…" he let out.

Blossom approached him. "I think… maybe we should give her a break. Bubbles has a point, I don't think she can fake this," she admitted.

"Yeah…" Donnie wasn't looking at her. His eyes were still fixed on Huan. "Heck. I don't know what happened to me. For a moment, I thought I had seen something in her I didn't like. It was as if I was back in Porter's lab, and that before me there was another one of his creations, this time trying to deceive us. This is just… absurd, I know, but I couldn't control it. It was as if I was… no more in control."

He looked down, suddenly finding interest on the floor. "I-I thought I was better than this."

Blossom found her mind coming back to months ago, when Donnie had first came to Townsville by himself. When it all looked like he was an enemy, and he had inadvertently given them a motif to think so, she and even her sisters had immediately changed their behaviour towards him. She didn't like remembering how she had lost control back then, but the resemblance with Donnie's own reaction to the news about Huan's was uncanny.

She considered what to say in reply. She thought about what Bubbles and Buttercup had told her just before sneaking in Gordon's headquarters. "Listen, Donnie…" she started, "this… all of this, it's quite heavy for all of us, for me and my sisters as well. It may be for different reasons, it may be difficult, but we can all try to move forward and not let it have the better of us."

Donnie lifted his gaze. It was clear that he was still disturbed by his own doubts, but he was smiling nonetheless, although weakly. "I'll try."

Blossom nodded, and then looked over to Huan. Donnie followed her gaze and approached the girl. "Huan… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be this aggressive. It was just, err… memories messing with me. It's my fault."

"I'm sorry, too. For what happened to your brother as well," Blossom added. She mentally recounted the names that Huan had mentioned earlier, then she tried to think up of something to reassure her.

"We're gonna get Ai, Li and Hui out of here, Huan. I promise."

Huan glanced at Blossom and Donnie for a moment, and then nodded without a word. Donnie sighed but didn't attempt to communicate with her further, while Blossom simply accepted it as a good enough reply.

"Come on, now. According to Rackham, we have to reach the bottom of Headquarters, so it's still a few levels down from here."

* * *

Buttercup looked in amazement at the tank. Of all military-related stuff, tanks had always had a soft spot for her. The thought of a machine of steel and tracks able to move over everything and through everything, featuring heavy weaponry on top of it all, was pretty much close to her definition of 'cool', and the modern vehicle she had seen here was indeed a rare sight, especially this close. At Townsville, the few times the military had intervened during a monster attack tanks were mere dots in the distance or smoking wreckages, but now…

"Buttercup?"

Oh… right. The mission.

"I'm here, I'm here," Buttercup turned around to look at her sister. "I was just… checking the enemy's equipment!"

"That's something Blossom would do. And I'm pretty sure you were daydreaming there."

"Well… it's not my fault that these guys own stuff this awesome!" Buttercup rebutted. Bubbles simply rolled her eyes, not sharing her sister's interest one bit.

The two were currently hiding behind a line of boxes full of 'military things', as Bubbles had put it. Just thirty meters away from them, an entire convoy was moving through the facility. Other than the tank, they had seen various trucks, either carrying soldiers, supplies or other… resources. Both Buttercup and Bubbles were pretty sure that men in white lab coats barely different from the Professor's one handling containers with unknown contents was a bit far from standard military procedure.

Their presence had to be connected with Huan and her siblings… but to what extent, they did not know. For now, they had to keep moving. It had been at least three quarters of an hour since they first made their entrance in the base, and the alarm had yet to start ringing, meaning that Blossom's group had not been detected yet. Blossom's plan was simple: causing a second distraction in case they couldn't reach Huan's siblings without a fight in order to prevent Gordon from sending the entire company after her, Donnie and Huan in one enclosed space.

In fact, Buttercup's respect for the level of technology sported by the company was only second to her willingness to duke it out with them and put such a display of strength to the test. "Man, what I'd give to see how strong they actually are."

Bubbles decided to change tactics in order to put a halt to any war-mongering thoughts growing in her sister. "I didn't know you shared this passion with Butch."

Buttercup suddenly turned back to look at her, eyes narrowed. "There's a difference. He just enjoys driving them around. I, on the other hand, _also_ enjoy fighting them. Or at least I would, if I could try it..."

Bubbles sighed. "Just… keep it down a little longer. Blossom must not be very far from Huan's siblings."

Buttercup grumbled under her breath but kept silent without trying to leap over their cover and lunge at the convoy. However, the thought of waiting was soon put aside when Nuru suddenly spoke up. "Girls?"

Bubbles and Buttercup got a look at him. Nuru had been mostly silent while they penetrated deeper into the facility, but now he seemed on the edge. He was looking over the cover at the convoy, and something had got his attention.

"What is it?" Bubbles said, slightly preoccupied by Nuru's own worry.

"That… hard," he struggled to find the right words, his eyes fixed on something the sisters couldn't see. Buttercup and Bubbles looked at each other and, finding that they were both confused, sat up to check what was preoccupying Nuru.

They, unfortunately, failed to do so, though, as suddenly a loud, sinusoid alarm started to blare across the entire facility.

Bubbles reacted on instinct: she grabbed both Buttercup and Nuru and pushed them down without notice.

"Off!" Nuru let out. Buttercup was a bit more vocal with her protest.

"Bubbles, what's the big idea?! You can't—!"

"Wait, Buttercup! Both of you!" she declared, "If this is Blossom or even the few men we left behind unconscious, we can still try to take them aback! You don't need to charge them head on, there's an entire army here and a good chunk of it is right here!"

Buttercup groaned. "Listen, Bubbles, I know what you want to do, but Blossom asked us to do one thing: make 'a lot of noise' and distract the bad guys from her, Donnie and Huan, if need be. In either case, I'm not waiting. You're free to join in."

She didn't let Bubbles have the time to protest, and she bolted in the air, out of cover. Bubbles and Nuru had to wait just a few seconds before the sound of gunfire started to roar.

Bubbles frowned, unhappy with her sister's decision… but what was done was done. She quickly told Nuru what her brief discussion with Buttercup was about and informed him that they were going to fight. _'At least he seems happy about it,'_ she thought as Nuru's face brightened and he cracked his knuckles.

With a nod, the two of them jumped in the air and charged at the convoy, where Buttercup was already wreaking havoc.

Bubbles only hoped that whatever Nuru had noticed was something they could deal with.

* * *

Blossom, Donnie and Huan observed the old elevator in silence as it moved past them. Three men were inside: a scientist in a lab coat and two guards wielding assault rifles, both with the possibly dangerous, W-marked attachments. The elevator was open on all sides, so the group of men would have needed to just turn around for a moment to discover the intruders and most probably give the alarm. But they did not, and the elevator continued its travel upwards.

"Now," Blossom whispered, and the three resumed their descent through the elevator's shaft. As much dangerous and less desirable this solution was, they had concluded that this was also the only way to get down to the last underground level. All staircases were constantly under watch by groups of at least three guards, with no open moments between the frequent shifts. The elevator itself wasn't much better, but flight meant that the puffs had the option to use the shaft of the machine to go down. Five minutes was all they needed to find a ventilation grid that brought them to it.

Blossom had managed to count four floors before, but they spent a full two and a half minutes, minus the interruption from the elevator itself, to reach the next stop while hovering in silence. Sensing that the door was most likely going to be under surveillance as well, she immediately went to tear open an air vent, making sure to be as silent as possible: she opened the metallic grate like a tin can.

She signalled her two companions to follow her in silence and led the way in. They kept hovering, as they didn't want to risk being heard while moving though the vent, and they could hear footsteps all around them. _'This has to be it,'_ Blossom thought.

Eventually, they reached an area where neither footsteps nor voices could be heard. Upon finding another steel grid, Blossom decided that this was the moment to take their chance. He kept signalling Donnie and Huan to move around her to her sides, then she looked through the grid to see if there was any movement on the other side.

After a ten-seconds-long wait, Blossom took in a long breath, then she went in. She once again opened the grid like a tin can, this time from the _inside,_ but cared little for the noise. The metal creaked as she pushed and bended it outwards, so Blossom and her companions wasted no time, hovering out of the air vent ready to take down whoever could be on the other side… at least, Blossom and Donnie were.

However, they found no guard in the chamber, which they soon realized was a changing room of sorts. There were white lab coats everywhere, along with various lines of lockers and benches, but there was no one occupying the room.

"It looks like there's an entire army of scientists working here," Donnie remarked while looking at the amount of laboratory-ready cloths available in the room.

"T-the men who held me and my siblings. There were soldiers, but also people wearing these white vests as well…" Huan added. She was progressively getting more and more anxious, and it was clear even from her voice alone.

Blossom looked at her for a moment before coming up with a reply. "We should act with them as if they were armed soldiers. We can't know how much they're in with the general whole company… for all we know, they're bad guys as well. Remember, knock out anyone as soon as he or she sees you. We're close, I'm almost—"

The alarm went off.

Blossom, Donnie and Huan immediately reacted by dashing in three different directions on instinct, lighting up the room with the colours of their streaks. They were ready for a sudden attack, for men coming through the doors and firing away at them, but after ten seconds nothing had happened. In fact, they didn't even hear footsteps or people shouting orders or whatnot.

"Oh, darn! They must have discovered the others!" Donnie said. A force field was visible on his right side, slightly blurring the view on his body.

"Hold on. If that's the case, we should be able to take advantage of the distraction…" Blossom mused. "But I don't hear any—"

One of the doors opened, and a man in a lab coat made his entrance. He seemed to be perfectly calm, if not slightly annoyed by the blaring sound of the siren and the pulsing red light present in the room. His face made a 180° turn, however, as he saw a hovering little boy right in front of him.

Donnie wasted no time and literally ran him over before he could open his mouth, force field first. He pushed him towards the nearest wall and crashed into the concrete, cracking it underneath. The technician was immediately knocked out cold, as Donnie let the force field dissolve and the man's body fell down.

"Did you… did you…?" Huan seemed to be speechless.

"No, I've learned how to deal with people without actually hurting them in the past... well, not _that much,_ I mean," Donnie explained. "There is no time, though, we got to go now."

"Halt!" Blossom flew towards Huan and Donnie. "Something is up, Donnie. This crook didn't even look like he was that preoccupied with the alarm. We _should_ have at least heard something from all the people that have to be down here."

"Wait. Then, why is the alarm ringing?"

"I… I don't know," Blossom was at loss for words. In the heat of the moment she couldn't think straight enough to formulate a good alternative explanation. But just as she was going to at least say how they should approach the situation, they felt a quake coming through the entire facility, followed by a distant, yet definite _'boom'._

Then, the shouts started.

Blossom eventually made a fast decision. "We don't have time to discuss this, we have to move now. Donnie, Huan, let's try to rush through and not let them pin us down! We have to get her siblings free and safe before anything else!"

Donnie nodded, his hands already lightened up with yellow energy. Huan, on the other hand, frowned at the thought of getting into the fray. Blossom approached her, and eventually Huan couldn't ignore her presence anymore.

"Listen, Huan, this may be going to be hard, but it's our last obstacle, our chance. Your siblings are _here,_ we can't turn our back now that we're this close. Try to keep up with us and don't get yourself captured, that's all I ask. Understood?"

Huan nodded while looking sideways, and Blossom hoped that her resolve would've been enough. The shouts were getting nearer, so she simply exchanged a look with Donnie.

The line of soldiers and military scientists moving through the corridor was sincerely surprised to see a pair of coloured bolts slamming open the door to the exchange rooms and coming fast at them. Blossom and Donnie didn't spare time and simply slammed both into them like bowling balls taking down pins, Huan quickly following behind them. Eyes narrowed, Blossom took the lead and started to take sharp turns left and right. Soldiers were popping up from every direction, but the sudden appearance of the puffs meant they were either too startled or too slow to take aim and retaliate.

' _Come on… come on!'_ Blossom thought as her fist found a soldier's chest. The man coughed as he lost his breath, but Blossom simply kept flying forward, looking around for possible clues about the whereabouts of the captured puffs. She could start hearing energy grenades blowing up behind her, as Donnie tried to prevent their foes from taking the time to shoot at them. His efforts could only do so much though, as Blossom could feel shots grazing her body already. Those were normal bullets, ineffective against powered puffs, but the image of the 'W' attachments was still fixed in her mind, and her heart rate increased with every hit.

Eventually, Blossom found what she was looking for. _'Containment unit,'_ the sign read clearly in both English and Chinese transcription. That's what Rackham had told them, the last instruction he had left them. Blossom followed the indication, upping her speed even more. The hallways were getting wider and taller.

Suddenly, another roaming bullet hit her. However, this time, it didn't simply ricochet off her, leaving at most a small bruise behind. Blossom felt it clearly: the point of the bullet penetrating through her top, through her _skin._

She screamed as the pain shot through her. Before that, she had believed that only Duranium was able to hurt her this easily. Porter had put that thought to the test with his mutant army months ago, and now Gordon's guards had once again made her reconsider it. Yet, one thing was an army of unnatural mutated beats, she could at least see some reasoning behind their power… another was losing her invulnerability to mere bullets.

"Donnie!" she shouted, half in alarm, half in fright. "Force field up, now!"

Donnie launched a last grenade towards the enemies forward before letting himself fall to the ground, Blossom quickly following him and Huan joining little after. He raised his hands and concentrated, and a moment later the three puffs were encircled by a semisphere-shaped force field. Bullets ricocheted off it, confirming that they were safe… for now.

Blossom had to control herself from literally rolling down on the floor beside Donnie. Once her feet made contact with the floor, she let herself fall down on a sitting position, and immediately clutched on her shoulder.

"What happened? Blossom?" Donnie managed to say until something was shot at them. The force field held it off, but Donnie felt a sudden release of energy from it, and he had to expend more energy to keep it up.

"Something… ugh!" Blossom managed to say, as her hands felt the metal. The bullet had not penetrated enough into the shoulder to be serious… which was still better than most humans. Yet, it was at least a quarter inserted through her skin, and it still hurt. A lot. She could even feel her dress getting progressively soaked around the wound's position.

"Blossom… l-let me help you!" Huan suddenly uttered. She rushed to her and checked on the wound, a newfound vigour strengthening her for some reason. Blossom was too much in pain to care or protest, and she eventually let her do what she wanted. Huan pushed Blossom hands away and saw the state of the injury. She gasped.

"I think… this is gonna hurt…" Huan warned. Blossom simply gritted her teeth and looked at her as if to say 'just get over with it'. Huan bit her lip, then took the bullet's back and pulled it off in one move.

Blossom gurgled as she held herself from screaming. All the while Donnie grunted once again. "Girls, whatever they're shooting at us, it's almost getting through the force field! I'm barely holding it together and…" he moved his head to look at them and his eyes widened as she saw Huan holding a bullet and Blossom clutching her injured shoulder with her own hand, grimy with red liquid.

"The 'W'… that has to be it. L-listen, Donnie," Blossom said, trying to ignore the pain. "We must make one last push. As soon I give the signal, you will let the force field go and I will use heat vision against the soldiers behind us."

She looked at Huan. "Huan, we… we _need you_ on this one. You have to try and at least distract the ones blocking our path along with Donnie. Just try to do whatever you can!"

"I… can?"

Blossom shook her head. "Yes, you do. You can do this, just like I can, and I'm counting on you!"

Huan seemed to be less convinced to take part in the action than before now, but she nonetheless replied affirmatively after a few seconds. "I-I will do it."

"Good. Ready, Donnie?"

Donnie grunted as another series of bullets bounced on the field. The three of them could distinctively distinguish normal bullets from the more harmful ones, as the former bolted off with green-ish sparks and seemed to be getting _closer._ "Ready…" he said.

Blossom raised a hand, her eyes starting to beam with energy. But then, something happened. The shooting stopped, and she heard people shouting.

"On them!"

"Thrown!"

"Hold your breaths!"

Before she could understand what was going on, a group of canisters fell around them and over the force field. Immediately, the released a thick-looking gas, green in colour.

"Wait, Donnie!" Blossom ordered, but Donnie had no intention of letting the gas invade their safe heaven. At least, that was until a soldier, who had moved up to them making use of the distraction, shot them with his weapon.

An entire array of pellets penetrated through the force field and then was repulsed away with a loud, booming noise, and a green fireworks spectacle of sorts followed it right after. Donnie felt his legs give in as the sudden loss of energy needed to repulse the shotgun blast had the better of him, and he eventually stumbled backwards. The force field disappeared, and the gas was on them.

"Don't breathe!" Donnie managed to say. Blossom brought a hand on her mouth and nose, trying her best to slow her breath down. It was difficult: everything was happening fast, too fast for her to keep up with.

"Blossom..."

She turned around, and saw Huan looking at her with tears in her eyes. Her pupils went up a second later and she fell down, her body trembling. At the same time, Blossom felt gas particles in her nose, despite her efforts, and she felt her strength coming down. _'No, no!'_

Soon, the gas dispersed. Huan was still down and unconscious, while Donnie was lying on the floor, trying without results to get up. He had to have suffered the same effects as Blossom: her strength had diminished to the point where she was barely able to hold her position, knelt down with one knee on the floor. Her vision was blurry, and she felt like she was going to faint at any moment.

However, she did not, and neither did Donnie. Blossom could only think that whatever the gas had done to them was different from what had happened to Huan, but she couldn't think enough straight to elaborate on that. Not to mention that she soon saw an entire squad of men pinning them down. A soldier put a feet on Donnie's head, immobilizing him, while another three kept their weapons pointed at her. No one seemed to be interested in Huan.

Blossom kept her position, but did not move. There was no use getting on these people's nerves… they had been caught, that was it.

"Make space! The general is here!"

' _The… the general?'_

Soon enough, the line of soldiers broke and a man walked up to Blossom. He was clothed in a more austere way compared to most military generals in her country, and one could have misidentified him for a minor officer or even soldier at first: a black combat vest was the only notable addition to his standard-issue military uniform, in fact. Only two details clued in to the man's true rank: the headgear, a proper general hat with a golden star, and a peculiar insignia on his chest: a golden-plated pin with the image of a dragon's head.

"Keep your rifles up," the general ordered, even if the men didn't even think of easing in the general's presence. He gave a side glance to Donnie, whose face was just enough turned to be able to look back, then he directed his attention towards Huan. He looked at her body for a few, long seconds, opening and closing his fists as he did so. Blossom didn't know what to think of it.

Then, the general finally looked at her—no, he moved closer and kneeled until he was basically face to face with her.

"Blossom Utonium of the Powerpuff Girls. Why, this is a surprise," the general greeted. "I have to hand it to you. Making it this far into the compound, and this close, I suppose, to your target… a memorable feat, even if you didn't make it in the end."

Blossom kept her silence, her mind still a bit clouded by the effects of the gas, but she held the gaze of the man.

"Hmm, we were very lucky with the 'W' sleep gas. I guess you need some time to recover your thoughts… very well. We have a lot to tell each other, Blossom, I'm sure you know that, but don't you worry."

He stood up, and another explosion shook the complex. The soldiers turned around in apparent concern, but the general had only eyes for the pink puff. "We'll soon have a chance to meet properly."


	6. The General's Idea

**.**

 _Chapter 6_

 **The General's Idea**

The tank rotated its turret, and one could've imagined the loader inside getting a deadly shell up into the cannon, ready to be fired at the enemy and unleash its devastating effects on whoever was unfortunate enough to be in its field of view.

However, something different happened instead, as the entire tank started to move _upwards._ It was lifted off the ground, and the turret pitifully continued to rotate, as if to look for whatever, or whoever, was the cause of its sudden achievement of a hovering ability.

Of course, the cause itself was not going to let any of the nearby allies of the tank take pot shots at her. Buttercup simply let out a cry and flung the entire armoured vehicle in the air, forward. Some of the company's grunts shouted in fright while others had more 'colourful' comments to make, but all of them had to get to cover or move the heck of the way as the tank landed on the ground and started to skid away, the tracks unable to stop its momentum. Eventually, the speed was too much and the tank came to a halt only after turning sideways and stopping with one side facing the sky, the engine smoking.

Buttercup brushed the dust off her hands, satisfied with her handiwork as she admired the crewmen from the tank abandoning the fuming wrecked vehicle before it could blow up. However, her admiration was short-lived, as she was suddenly reminded of the fact the battle was still on-going by the annoying feeling of bullets rebounding off her skin.

"Why do you keep shooting at me if it doesn't work?!" Buttercup shouted before flying up to the nearest squad of riflemen. She was almost bored to take them on, as she only needed a couple of punches to knock out each of them. The only challenge was from the apparent training of the soldiers: she had to hand it to them, they were trying to distance themselves from each other in order to not be caught by her flurry of attacks in one go, and they were constantly aiming for her eyes. Now, that was just low.

Not that any of that would've been enough to beat her, of course.

Buttercup made short of work of a first squad of riflemen, knocking each of them out with an uppercut, too fast for them to take aim properly. Submachine gun fire on her back reminded her of another group of soldiers advancing with smaller but just as annoying weapons; Buttercup wasn't fazed. She turned around and powered up her eyebeams, and a moment later the soldiers were sent retreating with either their backs on fire or their guns melted.

Finding a relative short moment of pause where no one was shooting at her, Buttercup flew up and looked over the battlefield. Her surprise attack had left quite the mark on Gordon's military company: she had lost count of the soldiers that were lying on the ground, crawling away in pain or unconscious and dragged out by their allies, and four armoured vehicles were either destroyed or abandoned around the square.

The company had sent quite a selection of military engineering marvels at her, and Buttercup felt somewhat saddened by the prospect of having to damage each of them, a feeling that had been quickly put aside for the excitement of combat. One difference with Mojo Jojo's machines in this case was that the enemies were trying new tactics each time a new wave was sent after her. The tank was just one of the many vehicles the company was throwing at her.

Far away, Buttercup could even see Bubbles and Nuru taking on their own share of Gordon's personal army. Buttercup was sincerely impressed by Nuru's abilities in combat, as he was handling himself just fine against his foes' firepower; as for Bubbles, she was trying to avoid direct confrontation with the soldiers, attacking from afar when possible. Right now, the two were fighting together, and Buttercup concluded they didn't need her help.

"Infra-human!" a very loud voice boomed through an electronic filter, startling Buttercup. Turning around, she saw yet another legion of well-armed soldiers… and a _second_ tank, behind them. The tank was immobile, but the soldiers were marching towards her, apparently unfazed by the chaos she had already caused. "Cease your resistance! We'll give you five seconds!"

One of the soldiers was talking through a very efficient megaphone. Buttercup simply snorted at the request. "You lost me at 'infra-human'!" she replied before straightening her back, ready to charge head on. A reference to one of her previous enemies' way of referring to her, her sisters and her friend was just another addition to her list of motives to keep kicking butt.

The soldiers raised their weapons and Buttercup darted forward without further delay, thinking that the bullets would have done nothing just as they always did. When the enemies opened fire, though, Buttercup's concentration was partly lost in favour of confusion. Confusion at the clear _pain_ she was feeling.

"What the- OW!" Buttercup halted as another salvo hit her. Swallowing her pride, she retreated and managed to hide behind the wreckage of an armoured truck before they could shoot at her again. She clearly heard the bullets ricocheting off the plating of the wreck, as if making fun of her superpowers.

"W-what in the—huh?" Buttercup checked her arms, trying to understand just what was going on, and what she saw took her aback. Her skin was dotted with holes of various sizes: some of them could've been described as bruises; others were on the other hand were far more serious. Buttercup had seen blood before, but seeing her own was a different matter.

Something new had come into the picture, something no one of them was aware of. Suddenly, she remembered about Bubbles and Nuru still battling in the square, out of cover. _'I gotta warn them!'_

Before Buttercup could make her move, though, her cover _exploded._ She was sent tumbling in the air by the blast, but Buttercup didn't need much time to recover herself: thankfully the force of the explosion had mostly been absorbed by the wrecked vehicle. The same couldn't be same for the mysterious bullets that were able to hurt her, since the soldiers beside the tank responsible for the explosion immediately resumed firing at her.

"OW! Now, that's enough!" Buttercup grunted, raising an arm to protect her eyes. When she lowered it her eyes were lighted up with red energy, and she retaliated with her own 'ranged weapon'. The soldiers that were firing at her duck down to evade the heat vision blasts and Buttercup flew away just before the tank shot a second shell at her. It blew up on the ground, raising a cloud of dust but otherwise going wasted.

"Bubbles! Nuru!" Buttercup shouted as she rushed towards her two companions, through HQ's main square. "Behind me, watch out for those guns! Some of them can hurt you!"

Nuru kept fighting as if she had said nothing, and Buttercup quickly remembered that the boy was still in the early stages of learning English. Bubbles, on the other hand, nodded and moved towards the pursuing soldiers behind her sister. She opened her mouth and, without notice, released a sonic scream on them, disorienting the men and thus buying time for the puffs.

Buttercup reached Nuru just as he was about to punch his way into a squad of soldiers. She put a hand on his shoulder, and Nuru was taken aback, pushing her away and raising a fist as if to punch her. When he realized his error, though, he quickly stopped himself as he suddenly shifted from 'battle mode' to regret, stuttering excuses in his birth language in the heat of the moment.

Buttercup quickly dismissed his worries. "No time. Follow me. Now!" she said with simple words, pointing at herself. Nuru looked at her for a moment, then he shrugged, missing the point.

Before she could lose her patience, Bubbles ran to her sisters' aid, quickly translating the news about the enhanced guns. Nuru nodded, and Buttercup simply darted off once she was sure both of them were ready to follow her. She scanned the battlefield and located an alleyway between two buildings, and sped off after it. Before anyone among the facility's garrison could go to the offensive once again, the three puffs had already disappeared from sight.

"Okay… j-just give me a second to think…" Buttercup said, finally able to slow down her breath rate. She checked her bruises once again. Yep, she wasn't imagining things.

"W-what? Buttercup, you're hurt!" Bubbles exclaimed when she realized that some of those injuries were more serious than expected. Even Nuru seemed mortified by the sight of a bleeding powerpuff.

"It's just a flesh wound," Buttercup reassured. "Listen, I don't know much about it, but some of these soldiers are using guns stronger than usual, either that or stronger bullets. They pack a punch…"

"I can see that," Bubbles said. "I think we should stay here and stay low for a while, Buttercup. I'm worried this is just the beginning… they've been using a lot of different weapons. Not even Mojo has that many!"

"No, we must keep them occupied and keep their attention away from Blossom, Donnie and Huan, wherever they are," Buttercup replied. "We just have to keep moving and dodge those bullets while we take out whoever is using the more powerful bullets first. Not everyone has the stronger guns, so we can still beat them."

Bubbles closed her eyes and passed a hand over her face, then nodded. "Okay… I'm starting to get worried about the others, too… Try not to get yourself any more hurt, though. You're injured; I don't want them to hurt you more."

' _I know that, sis,'_ Buttercup thought to herself. Those bullets were painful, but she was positive she could handle even this new challenge. It wasn't that much worse than being fried by a laser, which she had already experienced in the past, multiple times. Deep down, she was also somewhat excited to see some spice finally added to a generally one-sided battle.

"Let's just stay together though from now on," Bubbles added. "We can help each other out at least that way."

Buttercup nodded, deciding that she could at least grant her sister this one request. "All right. I'll go in first, tell our tough boy here I want you both to stay behind until they start giving everything they got at me. Join the fray as soon as you see an opening while I distract them!"

As Bubbles proceeded to quickly explain the next move to Nuru, Buttercup bolted upwards and appeared over the barracks buildings around the alley to check the current situation. What she saw was a clear signal that things weren't getting any easier: in the span of less than five minutes, the company had already sent fresh troops in the plaza to deal with them, along with the relatively minor group of soldiers that had managed to repel her, along with the second tank.

Headquarters was a large facility, with the main central building being only a small part of the overall complex: even so, Buttercup could see through the square and on the main road that there were additional military trucks as well as even smaller jeeps moving fast towards her position.

From afar it was a bit difficult, but she could also see that a few of the guns wielded by Gordon's grunts had a mysterious attachment by their side. She couldn't make out the details, but it was clear it had something to do with the powered bullets she had to deal with.

Deciding to take her chances, Buttercup braced herself to dash right into the enemy, when she saw a couple of military-grade armoured trucks approaching the line of soldiers and guardsmen growing in the square. Coming at high speed, the vehicles skidded to a halt and soldiers started to flow out of them. What got Buttercup's attention, though, was a specific pair of these new arrivals.

Two of the soldiers stood out among the crowd. They had heavy armour… as if, something that she was pretty sure could've held off most bullets if not a point-blank explosion, covering them from head to toe. They were wielding light machine guns much more ominous-looking than the now wimpy-looking rifles of their allies, and as soon as they started to walk the rest of the men around them made space to let them through.

' _Oh, so you're sending in the big guys now, Gordon? Well, let's see what they've got,'_ Buttercup thought. If she had to be honest she found the appearance of the heavies amazing, but she was nonetheless determined to fight them off.

It was just going to take a little more effort.

* * *

Blossom had felt this way once in the past. The feeling of her powers being stripped away from her, leaving her weak and her mind clouded, unable to think straight as well… those were among the effects of Antidote X, and Mojo had succeeded in making use of such effects against the girls. Yet, this time her mind had managed to recover quite faster in comparison, despite the weakness still having a hold on her body. The fact that her wound had resumed throbbing was a painful sign of it, and being forced to walk despite it wasn't helping.

By that point, she could listen to every single word uttered by the guardsmen 'courteously' escorting them… including the man leading the group, of course. General Gordon.

"We've deployed the juggernauts from Camp Seven, general. They're engaging the infra-humans as we speak."

"Very well. I hope it's clear that I want our garrison heavies to keep their position inside HQ. Let Camp Seven's men do the job."

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't—"

"I didn't ask for your opinions. You have your orders, and I am perfectly aware of what those mean. Execute them."

The soldier saluted with no further words before departing, running in the opposite direction. Blossom instinctively turned her head around to check where he was going, but she felt something probing her on her back, which she immediately recognized as the muzzle of a rifle. In other circumstances she would've just turned around and zap the weapon out of her captor's hands, but right now she felt too much vulnerable to even risk a simple bullet.

She, thus, decided to look at her unfortunate companions. Donnie walked beside her, looking just as frail as her and with an armed soldier right behind him—his weapon was equipped with the mysterious attachment. Unlike Blossom though, he seemed to be on the verge of throwing up as well, and his breaths were sometimes interrupted by coughing fits. As if he was also sick.

Huan was, on the other hand, still unconscious. She was being carried by one of the soldiers in front of Blossom, right beside Gordon. Surprisingly, the man was carrying her gently: rather than just putting her on his shoulder like a potato bag, he carefully held her body with his arms. Considering the circumstances it wasn't a courtesy she'd expect from her captors, but Blossom had already had to accept that there were many things she didn't know about Gordon's military company.

Right now, her only idea was getting closer to the general. At this point, only he seemed the guy either capable or willing to explain everything… and he was also the heart of the entire company, their secondary target that they could take aback, as unlikely as it looked right now. It was either this or hoping in whatever her sisters and their companion were doing outside.

She heard an explosion in the distance, and she distinctively felt a quake going through the pavement. The soldiers looked around, and even the General stopped walking for a moment.

He turned around, glancing at Blossom and Donnie. "Bring the infra-human with red hair here," he ordered, pointing a finger at her. Before Blossom could realize what was going on, they were walking again, but this time in place of Donnie beside there was Gordon.

"I apologize for not waiting any longer to start a conversation, but I'm sure you realize that we're running low on time," the General greeted. He stayed silent as if expecting a reply, but Blossom didn't open her mouth.

"Hmm, perhaps you don't fully realize in what kind of situation you're in, Blossom," the General spoke again, his tone harder. "Let us summarize it. You, your sisters and two other infra-humans broke into a compound under the responsibility of _my_ military company. You deliberately avoided detection and knocked out some of the patrolling guards; you in particular moved deeper into Headquarters, which is enough in my book to declare you as an enemy and just dispose of you right here and now. Yet, I've long since realized that you probably did all of this because you wanted to help one of _my belongings."_

Blossom couldn't help flinching. Somehow, the mention of the word had an effect of her, where she had previously believed that whatever Rackham had said about the General was either a lie or an exaggeration—at this point it was clear the guy had tried to set a trap for them.

The General didn't show any sign of noticing her reaction. "You helped itgain access to the compound and with it you intended to go and _steal the rest of what is mine._ "

At this point, Blossom couldn't bear Gordon's peculiar way of referring to Huan and her siblings any longer. "Why are you even talking about Huan like that? She's a person!"

"That is your opinion, not the actual truth. And even so, _it_ was created with one purpose, Blossom," the General replied. "Serve us along with the other infra-human as vessels. They were never meant to act or have thoughts or any amenities expected from conscious living beings."

Blossom looked at the General, who seemed to be perfectly fine with what he had just said. Her clouded state didn't let her thinks through, and the calmness of the General didn't help either. "You… you're sick," she let out.

"Hmm, we're starting on the wrong terms I believe. Listen, Blossom, I actually do sort of respect you… as a person, of course. So, despite your recent mistakes as an interloper, I'm willing to give you a chance," the General explained. "However, you'll have to cooperate with me on this one. After all, neither of us wants to see anyone hurt, don't we?"

He turned his head forward before Blossom could muster a reply. That could be interpreted as a threat towards her, towards Donnie or towards Bubbles, Buttercup and Nuru… and neither of those choices was good. And judging by the few words they exchanged, she doubted she could get the General to reason with her. The way he referred to Huan with non-personal words… now it wasn't just Donnie having bad flashbacks from their encounter with Doctor Porter.

Her thoughts ran rampant, to the point where she lost track of where they were going. Thus, she was surprised when the group finally abandoned the corridor and the soldier behind her pushed her into a new chamber.

Gordon said a few words to the grunts, and they immediately bolted into action to prepare the room. Blossom looked around: worktables, shelves, collection of laboratory instruments… all coated in white. It was very much similar to a random laboratory, but when the soldiers started pushing things out Blossom quickly realized that there was much more room in there than she expected, way more than necessary for the few things stored in there.

In no time, there was a free space right at the centre of the room, with a table prepared right there. A soldier put a chair beside it.

"Come on now, Blossom," Gordon said, finally deigning himself to look at her. "Sit down."

Blossom complied… if only because she didn't know whether refusing could do anything. What she didn't like, though, was seeing Donnie making a step to move beside her, and receiving a knock in the back of his head as a result.

Donnie yelped and fell on his knees, holding his head in pain. "Hey!" Blossom shouted, trying to charge up her eyebeams in order to scare off the guard—too bad her powers were still deactivated and all she managed to create was a barely visible flicker in her eyes. Her sudden movement also had the effect to send another wave of pain through her body thanks to the wound.

"Hold him down," Gordon said gravely. He whirled around to face another guard. "You, go fetch a few more men and return here with something to keep our guests under control, Duranium-made. We can't trust the Anti W to work for long."

He then looked at Blossom again, and signalled for the chair. "I am sorry, Blossom, but you and your friend will have to respect some rules. I'm sure you can understand, so, please sit down and let him just watch for now."

Blossom glared at him. She was beginning to hate the passive, and clearly fake, politeness that Gordon seemed to be treating her with. She glanced at Donnie for a moment, who managed to lift his face to look back at her and nod.

Eventually, she walked up to the chair and sat. Gordon was right in front of her, two men with enhanced rifles at his sides.

"Very well. So, where to begin?" Gordon passed a hand over his chin for a second. "Blossom… I'm sure you already know me as General Damian Gordon, so I'll skip over the introductions and get to the point. As I already mentioned, you and your friends are trespassers in my company's compound. As such, I have every right to either dispose of you or give you up to the Chinese and let them do the job for us. I have, however, another option in mind."

"Option?" Blossom's starting idea of Gordon's character was one pretty similar to the typical villains she had to deal with on a daily basis back in Townsville. The thought that he wasn't just going to gloat over victory right here but rather discuss something with her was something she wasn't fully prepared for, though by that point she should've expected it.

"Your friends outside are giving quite the show, I hear," Gordon went on. "However, I was prepared for something like this. We've been so for a while, in fact: after all, having to deal with hostile infra-humans at one point was clearly a more than likely possibility. Simply put, you can't win against the full might of my company."

"That's what you say. I've already heard this from many bad guys, and it never ended well for them. You… you really aren't that different from Mojo Jojo, after all," Blossom said. Gordon's threat had a lot of similarities to what she had experienced in the past: whoever did that was always too much confident to win. Perhaps he wasn't that much different from her ape nemesis, after all.

Gordon arched an eyebrow. "I am very different from some random mutated monkey, _infra-human._ And I suggest you to at least let me explain my proposal before trying to make me lose my patience."

Blossom nodded, though she continued to glare at the man with her eyes narrowed.

"So, you and your friends are really an issue, Blossom. Releasing you would be quite a conundrum, since I'm not ready yet to let the world know about my activities here… but killing you isn't beneficial either, since your absence will be quickly noticed. So, here's an idea: tell your sisters and whoever is with them to stand down and let my men neutralize their powers with Anti-W. It will not hurt them, but it will keep us at an even level. Then, let your presence in China be known to the public and assure them that you're all right, with your own words. What you get back from this is, well… your life."

Gordon walked forward a bit until he was right behind the table. He put both hands on it and leaned over it, watching Blossom face-to-face. "I know this is not what you wanted in the very beginning, but this is all I can do. After all, I had your wound fixed up, didn't I?"

Blossom's eyes widened. Until that moment she had simply thought her injury to be still untreated since it was still painful to bear, but now she had noticed that it wasn't moist with blood. When she looked at it, she noticed bandages. She could even smell… disinfectant? How did she miss that? They had to have done it while she was still half-passed out due to the Anti-W.

"See? I'm trying to show that I'm not really your enemy here," Gordon said. "We can work things out, can you?"

For one that had claimed he respected her, Blossom thought that Gordon was being very lax in making fun of her. Fixed-up wound or not.

"Are you even _serious?_ I _cannot_ trust you. You're just going to get rid of us all once we let you take our powers out. I already _trusted_ one of your men once, who looked fully willing to help us… I'm not going to do the same mistake twice!"

"Oh, Private Rackham. I actually didn't expect him to do the job, you know?" Gordon trailed off, ignoring Blossom's refusal. He started walking around her and the table as he monologued. "The man tried to desert some weeks ago, but unfortunately for him we got him before he could disappear. How lucky that I had a discussion with him just a few hours ago when I realized that he could be more useful than just another mouth to feed in a cell deep in Headquarters. Well, at least my tactic with the fake alarm did seem to work out in the end."

Blossom looked at Gordon in confusion. Something similar to a smile could be seen appearing on his face—he was apparently amused.

"I'll rephrase that. What I had the deserter do was just directing you to HQ. Rather than giving him further instructions, perhaps for a well-prepared ambush, and risking either an error or another treachery from him, I just told him that he was free as long as that simple job was done. He won't be as much of a threat as you, given that without superpowers the Chinese police force should be able to easily catch him and deal with him… especially since I already sent them the info they needed about him. As for what to do about you, we programmed a fake alert alarm that the entire base was aware of. Either you weren't there and we would've carried on, or you were there and would've been forced to act and reveal yourselves… which you did."

Blossom was incredulous. It was a convoluted plan, but somehow… it had worked. She remembered that the one soldier they encountered when the alarm blared the first time was a bit too much at ease for such a situation… something that evidently Buttercup and Bubbles had not noticed. They had to have attacked believing her to be discovered.

"In any case, that is in the past now," Gordon continued, and as to highlight his words, another explosion went on in the distance, followed by another quake through the building. "And I do not intend to waste any more time. Do you accept my offer?"

"No!" Blossom reiterated. "I'm not going to give up my sisters up to you!"

"Mhh, how quaint that you don't seem to remember about your other friend. I was surprised as well to discover that there was another infra-human I didn't account for among your group, but I guess you don't care that much about him."

Blossom's brought a hand over her mouth, much to Gordon's amusement. "I didn't mean to… I-I won't let you do anything to Nuru either!"

"Perhaps you will. In any case, I'd hope you'd at least think about our small deal, Blossom. Trust me, the other option isn't ideal for you."

"Are you deaf or what?" Donnie's voice suddenly intervened. "She is not going to let herself get betrayed by some idi—"

Donnie yelped in pain as the soldier guarding him silenced him with a kick. He coughed and held on his side in pain, all while Blossom could only turn around to look at him. Every rifle was pointed at her, giving her all the answers she needed about eventual protests. She was… powerless.

…for now.

"I'm not going to tolerate another interruption," Gordon said gravely, making Blossom look back at him. He ignored her, keeping his stare fixed on the downed boy. "Either shut your mouth until we ask you to speak or I'll consider making a vessel out of you as well."

 _Vessel._ Blossom had already heard this word from Gordon. Her dire situation didn't let her miss on some other keywords Gordon had mentioned as well in their discussion, things she didn't know about... as much as she didn't like him, Gordon was basically her key to unlock the truths behind most if not all the questions she had.

"You are using Huan and her siblings as… _vessels?"_ she asked.

Gordon returned his attention to her. "That would be correct."

"Are you… trying to use them to create more of that double-u? You want to use it to get to world domination, don't you?"

Gordon tilted his head. Some of the soldiers around them couldn't help snickering, and the general paid them no mind.

"…no, that isn't the case," Gordon said. "I suppose you deserve an explanation, Blossom… perhaps, that'll help you understand why collaborating is your best option right now."

He signalled for one of the nearby soldiers, who walked up to him. He was the one carrying Huan.

Huan was still out, but Gordon ignored it. He motioned him to expose their captive, and he examined the girl for a moment. Blossom didn't like how he was looking at her… his look was different from the pure villainy of, say, Mojo Jojo, when he managed to capture them and boasted about victory in front of her and her sisters while they were trapped. This was more… calculative. Estimating.

"There's a very precise reason behind its existence Blossom… behind the existence of "Huan". I'll call it that way if you like," Gordon started, still analysing the knocked out girl.

"However, you first have to understand that whatever that reason is, I have every right to do whatever I want with it. After all… I am the one behind its creation."

* * *

Bubbles, deep inside her, had always recognized the perks of Buttercup's combative nature. For one, it meant that she was willing to tackle foes head on no matter how hard the upcoming fight looked, and sometimes that was one the main reasons why the girls were able to beat them. So, she mentally hoped that her sister would be able to handle the armoured elites when these made their appearance and Buttercup charged at them. That there was no surprise waiting for her behind the heavies' odd looks.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, as Buttercup soon realized that the heavy machine guns the juggernauts started pelting her with where loaded with enhanced bullets similar to the ones coming from the rifles with the W attachment. She raised an arm to protect her head once again and sped off in the opposite direction, but the heavy infantry kept walking forward, their machine guns still shooting. Apparently, avoiding continuous fire from those things was harder than expected.

Bubbles decided that Buttercup needed their help, and she needed it now. She gave a glance to her companion before saying 'Now!' in his own language, then she bolted through the alley and into the square. Her eyes lighted up before anyone could open fire and she started shooting eyebeams at the heavy infantry, immediately diverting their attention from Buttercup, who kept retreating—Bubbles could only imagine how much damage the armoured soldiers had managed to do.

Bubbles soon realized that eyebeams weren't working: the light machine-guns were still pointed at her and the soldiers' armour was barely scraped by her laser blasts. The heavies proved to be terrible at aiming from a distance, though, as Bubbles was moving fast enough up over the square to not be an easy target. She could only feel two bullets scraping her arm once, and that was it… though it was enough to make her remember about past wounds from a few months ago. It took her some effort to shake the thought away, just in time to see one of the juggernauts stop shooting and begin attempting to reload his weapon.

She decided that it was her chance to move in and neutralize one of them, but before she could go the rest of the soldiers in the square started shooting at her. It wasn't just the group accompanying the heavies, though. While she was occupied with them, the soldiers had completely encircled the area, and by the time they started shooting, Bubbles was basically enveloped by a swarm of bullets coming from all directions.

Meanwhile, Nuru had jumped into action as well, flying towards the nearest soldiers right after Bubbles' appearance and kicking left and right. It looked as if only a handful of the grunts were interested in him though, and when the company's division started coordinating their attack on Bubbles, he soon realized why.

It was utterly impossible for the blue puff to avoid being hit by the bullets. From her point of view, it was like the soldiers had unlimited ammo. She flew around while zigzagging but everywhere she went there was lead hitting her legs, her arms, her torso and her head. And, most importantly, she could definitely feel some of those bullets hurting more than usual, but in the chaos she couldn't understand who was shooting her with the enhanced weapons, only that every time she tried to move away there was another enhanced bullet from that direction hitting her skin.

Almost every man and woman was focused on Bubbles right now, even the tank from before with the machine-gun planted on its top had a gunner operating the thing aiming at her. When Nuru realized that Bubbles was having a hard time, he felt some kind of emotion rising up in him. Bubbles started letting out short, desperate screams as she tried to find a way out of the swarm of bullets, covering her own eyes to protect them from the deadlier projectiles.

That was simply too much.

Nuru raised a hand and closed it into a fist. The, he closed his eyes, losing any interest in the soldiers around him that shot at him: no one of them was using enhanced weapons. After only a few seconds, he let out a shout and planted a punch in the ground, strong enough to break the asphalt and penetrate through it.

The soldiers focusing on Nuru were puzzled at first. Then, they saw something moving fast below them. It was something emitting an orange-ish light, passing through the ground below the grunts and towards their distracted allies behind.

"GET THE HELL OUT! BLAST INCOMING! INCOMING, BELOW!" one of the soldiers shouted. His companions joined him in giving the alarm and soon the info translated into around fifty soldiers running for their lives, as whatever Nuru had created travelled towards them.

At one point, the entity stopped travelling, the soldiers nearby scrambling out of the way. And two seconds later, the energy was finally released with a loud, spectacular explosion that obliterated the entire section of asphalt, raising terrain in the air and destroying a light pole in the process.

It was impossible for anyone in the square to not turn their heads and look at it. The quake was strong enough to make some of the riflemen lose their equilibrium, and the explosion managed to light up most of the facility and the area immediately outside it for a moment. Whoever had barely managed to get out of the blast zone was knocked down by the shockwave, neutralizing two dozens of Gordon's men in one hit.

Nuru's move managed to give Bubbles a much needed break, as Gordon's company momentarily forgot about her and the bullets stopped to swarm around her. Bubbles gritted her teeth as she clutched on her body with her arms. The pain was enough that she failed to realize at first that the bullets had stopped coming at her: only when she finally did after a few seconds she took off towards the nearest roof.

Nuru was visibly sweating, but he wasn't apparently done as he immediately moved towards the side of the square that hadn't been affected by the explosion. He let out a war cry and flung himself into the line of soldiers there, punching everyone that was unfortunate enough to be on his flight path.

Before the soldiers could reorganize, though, another cry of revenge was heard as Buttercup finally re-joined the fight, appearing in the sky while everyone was paying attention to Nuru and dive-bombing the tank of all things. The machine-gunner could only swear and literally throw himself out before Buttercup could hit him, then the green puff entered the vehicle from the opened hatch of the turret. There was some scuffle inside, after which Buttercup emerged from the turret, looking for her next target. "Who's next!?"

The tank had already been encircled by more soldiers, but Buttercup could also see the heavy infantry as well marching forward. "Your turn, now!" she shouted before bolting towards the armoured soldiers, though this time she also heated up her eyes and shot eyebeams at them, focusing on their heads.

The aim of the heavies was effectively neutralized, since their helmets were armoured enough to sustain the blast but weren't created to also protect eyes from focused light. The few bullets that hit Buttercup were also less painful for some reason, but the girl was too much concentrated to care for the moment.

She reached the first juggernaut and immediately proceeded to punch it in the head with her strongest hook. Amazingly, the helmet didn't immediately disintegrate, but a crack still appeared on it while the soldier himself staggered back for a bit before falling on his back. Buttercup couldn't see his face but she was positive he was now in the land of dreams.

She turned around just in time to see the second heavy infantryman fire his machine gun at her. Buttercup growled and ignored the bullets, which were mostly rebounding off her skin, and flew up to him to throw a punch at his head.

The juggernaut was prepared, though, and Buttercup's punch was received by a hand. The man had literally had to let the machine-gun go as he was firing, just in time as the force of Buttercup punch ended up pushing him back a whole meter, his boots skidding on the asphalt.

When he came to a halt, the soldier straightened up himself. Other than some dust on his boots, he was completely unharmed.

Buttercup didn't expect her adversary to simply shrug off her attack like it was nothing, and the juggernaut immediately stepped forward with a punch of his own. It connected with the puff's cheek, pushing Buttercup back while she was still hovering.

However, the attack, albeit surprising, proved to have even more limited effects, as Buttercup simply spitted some saliva mixed with blood out of her mouth and, despite the whole situation, she couldn't help smirking.

"Not bad for someone without superpowers, pal," she said. "You still have a long road ahead, though. Here, let me show you a proper punch."

A moment later, the juggernaut was _flying,_ though not because of superpowers. Buttercup watched with mirth as the armoured soldier went crashing on the ground, the front of his so-called resistant garment now reduced to smithereens. "That's a good punch, you see!"

She redirected her attention to the nearby soldiers, but there was no one shooting at her now. In fact, she could hear 'Retreat!', 'Fall back!' and other calls as Gordon's company once again let the puffs enjoy another victory. Yet, Buttercup couldn't bask too much in triumph, as without the adrenaline of the battle she resumed to feel the bruises she had accumulated in the last half an hour.

"Ugggh…" she grunted. The volley of enhanced bullets from the machine-guns had really done a number on her: she had now multiple wounds over her body. They might've been small, but they were bleeding and they were painful. One of those could've passed for a scratch, but she had multiple holes with red stains around them on her dress, as well as scratches on her face and arms. There was one particularly serious injury right below her right eye that gave her a particularly ominous appearance. She still wasn't worried about them, thinking she'd be fine, but she had to admit they hurt.

Buttercup decided to leave her injuries for another moment and looked around for her sisters and their companion. Nuru was actually hovering towards her—he had ceased to chase after the fleeing troops. He seemed to have a few scratches as well, but otherwise looked far better than her. Once he was near, Nuru greeted her with foreign words.

"Uuh… okay, I can't really understand that if you don't remember it…"

Nuru gulped, realizing his mistake. "S-sorry," he babbled. "No good."

Buttercup sighed. "It's alright. Did you do this?" he gesticulated to the crater that was hard to miss. Buttercup hadn't seen the event herself, but she sure had heard the noise from the explosion and felt the shockwave.

Nuru nodded. "Well, too bad I couldn't see it, it must've been cool. Those guys didn't expect it," she commented quickly, knowing that Nuru was probably catching only a word of two of was she was saying. She had another matter in mind.

"Where's Bubbles, Nuru?" Buttercup's voice turned serious all of a sudden. Nuru would've been surprised, hadn't it been for her mentioning Bubbles' name. He frowned for a moment before his eyes widened. "Hurt. Hurt!"

"Hurt?! Where is she?" Buttercup demanded, but Nuru was already moving. She wasted no time and jumped in the air to follow him, and it wasn't long before they were over the facility, Nuru leading Buttercup towards her downed sister over the roof she had hidden in.

It didn't take a medic to understand that Bubbles had had it worse than Buttercup. As she came closer, she could only register the fact that Bubbles' blood loss had been more serious than whatever injuries she had, to the point that there were stains even on the roof's pavement. Buttercup hadn't seen much of Bubbles' own face-off with the company, but she had heard her scream, an event that had helped a lot in getting her back on the move. Not fast enough to help her out, it seemed.

"Bubbles… Bubbles?" Buttercup called out once she landed beside her sister. Bubbles didn't stand up, but she managed to at least look up to her sister. Her face was completely covered by scratches, with at least two of these deep enough to be bleeding.

"Buttercup… I-I d-didn't get them… I'm sorry…" she said weakly.

"Don't worry about that," Buttercup said, kneeling down to check on her. "Do you think you can move?"

"Sort of… I guess I can try to at least fly." As to confirm her own words, she tried to at least sit up from her lying position. Bubbles had to close her eyes and exert herself, but eventually she managed to at least keep her back upright on the floor of the roof.

Buttercup was sincerely surprised by how strong-willed Bubbles was proving to be… then again, they had went through a lot went it came to weapons expressively created to hurt their kind. Not that such a thing didn't change her resolve to let General Gordon and whoever worked for him know how infuriated she was now.

"You keep your head low. I'm not going to let them get another hit at us like this," she declared, flying up. "Nuru, with me."

"Buttercup, you're hurt too… y-you should at least rest for a while…" Bubbles protested.

"I am not going to let that army outside rest as well, Bubs," Buttercup retorted. He pointed at herself and glared at Nuru, who for once understood immediately what she meant. "Sorry, but you'll have to let me do this. We should—"

Something whistled near her ear. "What the—"

She was interrupted by Nuru, who tackled her without notice and pushed her back down on the roof, skidding together with her.

"What is wrong with you!?" Buttercup ungratefully pushed Nuru away from her, but she was confused to find him immediately ducking down. He flailed his arms and started babbling something in his own language, before correcting himself. "Bad! Long!"

Buttercup looked at Bubbles in search of answers. "Buttercup, stay down! He's saying that was a bullet that almost hit you!"

She let out a groan. "You're telling me those are snipers? You can't be ser—" more whistling was heard above them, forcing her to lie down along with Nuru and Bubbles. "Oh great, so they're even using silenced rifles."

"Buttercup, you can't go out like this. If those snipers are using powered bullets like the ones that hurt us... they just need to get one good hit at you. Please… stay here!"

Buttercup frowned, but right now she couldn't find a way out of this one. Those attachments made normal weapons able to hurt her, but the effect on sniper rifles was a whole matter she wasn't looking forward to test on her own body. Perhaps Bubbles was exaggerating when she said only one shot was needed, but if they ever managed to get a hit while she was moving she could lose equilibrium and basically become a flying target.

"Oh, okay, we'll stay here… but at one point we'll have to move, all of us. These soldiers are using a new trick every minute and I don't want to be still blocked here when they decide to use the next one."

She eyed Nuru for a moment. Perhaps, he could help her and Bubbles by staging another distraction with that power of his… if only by raising a lot of debris with another explosion right on this building.

Buttercup opened her mouth to speak again when she felt something weird. The ground vibrated for a moment, then stopped just as fast. Nuru and Bubbles felt it too, though they could only look at each other in confusion.

First, they heard the rustling, booming noise of concrete being crushed. Then, they heard cries from afar. Something had captured the attention of the company.

"Buttercup, wait!" Bubbles said, but her sister was already moving a hand above her. As expected, no sniper rounds came, and Buttercup took her chance by zooming up to the roof's side, away from her downed sister. She could also hear Nuru following her, probably just as eager to know what was going on.

When they finally got a view on the square of their previous battle, they immediately realized what the deal was. An entire section of Gordon's Headquarters main building had collapsed. They could hear cries and shouts as the soldiers scrambled to get on the debris and rescue whoever had been buried below them. It was even weirder since there were sections of the building still intact among the wreckage, as if whatever had destroyed the thing hadn't touched the upper parts initially.

Whatever had caused it, it had come from below.

"Blossom…" Buttercup whispered, before she heard another whistle pass over her hair, forcing her and Nuru to get down again.

* * *

"You... created her?"

"Not exactly. I commissioned its creation, it and the other three vessels… it cost me more that I'd have liked, but by now I believe that such a purchase can pay back the company by a long margin."

"W-why did you do it? Do you just like to see people suffer?"

Gordon scowled. "No, I don't. Whatever my belongings feel is not important, since they're not supposed to feel in the first place. They are supposed to be one thing only: vessels for W. Nothing more, nothing less."

Blossom thought about Gordon's words for a moment. "Double-u…" she let out.

"Precisely. Haven't you realized yet, Blossom?" Gordon went on. "W is indeed at the base of everything you see around yourself now. A substance of unknown origins, with a specific story behind it and only a limited amount of people aware of its existence… Rings any bells?"

Blossom didn't answer, though her surprised face was enough of a reply. She fully knew what Gordon meant, but somewhat the thought was hard to accept for her. Chemical X, the black liquid impossible to understand that Professor Utonium had studied for decades: it was the chemical that gave them powers and made them what they were… extraordinary.

Or at least they were until Donnie suddenly came into their lives. A super-powered boy created by Professor Laurentium out of Unidentified Y, a dense orange substance, much more similar to Chemical X than expected according to Professor Utonium himself upon comparison.

And now… this. Huan, a super-powered girl created out of W. Her, and her sister and brothers. And there was Nuru as well, who still had a lot to explain concerning his own past.

"W has always been in the hands of the Chinese, but they had little to no success in handling it," Gordon explained. "You see, what we're talking about here is vastly different than Chemical X or any of these substances your creator has studied in the past. W is just dust at ambient temperatures. You must heat it up to make a liquid out of it, with the risk of causing a chemical reaction with… explosive consequences, if handled incorrectly. You can also try to dissolve it in another liquid, but you either nullify its properties or risk another chemical reaction if you choose the wrong one, with even worse consequences. Worst of all, W is _rare."_

He let out of a sigh, as if he was reminiscing, while Blossom let him talk, half out of hope that whatever he was telling her would help them, half because she was clinging on his words.

"So much rare, that when I first obtained the right to let my men experiment on it by the Chinese, we soon realized that we couldn't keep up with the research without depleting all of our W. That was something we needed to avoid, as our relationship with the Chinese government was always… a mutual one. We needed more W, but no one of our scientists knew how to synthetize it. So, at one point, I was contacted by a Chinese man of science, who made a very interesting proposition to us."

Gordon looked at Blossom again. "Vessels of W. Vessels that could generate more W for us. I was sceptical at first, but eventually I decided it was worth a shot… and indeed it was. Not even Doctor Porter had had this stroke of genius during our short collaborating effort: Unidentified Y was simply too different for W to be replicated with his methods. But this? Not only did we effectively create an unlimited source of W: by studying the vessels, we learnt way more about its properties that we ever did in years of research. We studied how W interacts with their blood, and finally found a good enough solvent thanks to our discoveries. We learned about how W interacts with their bodies, how W could be used to enhance stopping power, explosives' energy… It was enlightening."

Blossom scowled. "Did you say that you studied them? What did you do to them?"

"Oh, nothing worth mentioning really. I know where you're going with that remark, and I'll save you the time," Gordon replied with arrogance. "What really matters is how our steps forward with the research helped with the overall development of our PMC. We used W to enhance weaponry with excellent results, though we needed to limit our usage of it for our unlimited sources were still limited in per-day production. No need to ask for extremely expensive Duranium bullets when we could just enhance regular ones with W enhancement… and that was just an example. We even experimented with W for enhancement at a biological level, following an advice from our past partner Doctor Porter, and you wouldn't believe what we discovered… what we got from W was relevancy, because we ceased to just be a small private company at the mercy of the Chinese government."

Blossom scoffed. "You talk a lot like Mojo Jojo after he came up with a new plan, General Gordon. I don't understand why you think you're better than him…"

Some of the men raised their rifles, but Gordon motioned them to stand down, though he wasn't amused either. "The difference is that I'm not running after some impossible, idiotic goal like world domination, Blossom. No, my company makes business, _weapon business._ And now we have our main prize: W-enhanced guns, cannons, explosives, and one day, even soldiers. Much cheaper than any Duranium-based weaponry or even more conventional advanced technologies, yet granting you the perfect equipment for the perfect army… offered to the best bidder, of course. Because, let's face it, the Chinese of course want to be the first on the vending table, but once we've fully taken advantage of W and its properties, what's stopping us from simply ignoring them? At one point, we'll be the ones holding the blade by the handle, and by then, we'll be in full business all around the world."

Gordon gaze shifted back to the unconscious form of Huan. "And all thanks to this, and all the vessels we'll of course have to create to sustain our newly built W-based economy."

Blossom was somewhat speechless. Until now, she had meant every word when comparing Gordon to Mojo—he was a villain from head to toe and was up to no good. She didn't expect him to go full businessman in the span of a few seconds… and just like a certain Dick Hardly, with little care to whoever was around her. Blossom was just a kid, but she was smart enough to realize what it meant to arm everyone with such powerful weapons.

"Y-you can't do that, Gordon!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Everyone is going to go after your weapons, and then they'll use it against each other!"

"It concerns me little, as long as I'm the one in control of those weapons. Perhaps, you're just worried you and your kind won't be so much invulnerable, after all."

"T-that's beside the point!" she hated how the General continued to throw stabs at her, mocking her own logic.

"Maybe. It won't change anything in my plans… In fact, we're very near to just having to fully build up our W production divisions, and then we'll be in full swing."

Gordon's remark had Blossom realize another aspect of the General's plan. "Wait, production? Do you want to… create more…?"

"To sustain production we need more W, so yes, we will need more than just our starting four infra-human vessels. We'll create more, as many as needed."

"Y-you can't just play with lives like that and use them as if they're some kind of source of… stuff! Huan is a real person, and so are her siblings!"

"I _can,_ and what you think my belongings are matters little," Gordon said. He marched up to the table and, without warning, slammed both hands on it.

"Listen carefully, Blossom. It's been years since I came in China, since I deserted my own country. I did it because as soon as I first learnt about W I had a vision, and I fought tooth and claw for months, never relenting, never stopping, to make it happen—to reach this very moment. That _thing…"_ he pointed at Huan, still firmly in the soldier's grasp, "…is the key to our success, and I won't let you steal it or any of the other vessels away from me."

He finally grabbed hold of her upper dress and lifted her up, getting her closer to his face. "So, my offer is still open. Take it, and once this entire ordeal is over we'll go our own ways. Refuse, and I _will destroy your sisters, your friends and you."_

He let go of her, and she fell back on the chair with a _thud._ Gordon stepped back and crossed his arms, in wait for a reply.

Blossom closed her eyes for a moment to digest Gordon's words. He had revealed quite a lot, and Blossom wasn't sure how to take it. Puffs created en mass for business… it reeked of Dick Hardly. He had already experienced these feelings once, when facing Utonium's late college 'pal', and now she was feeling those emotions resurface.

Yet, there was also something else, something that disturbed her. Dick had just created copies of her sisters, copies that were however defective. On the other hand, Gordon planned to exploit his creations differently, literally milking W out of them. He never talked about copies… he actually needed healthy individuals.

Tens, even hundreds of puffs. Every one of them as Huan. It made her head dizzy…

…but it wasn't just the idea of seeing so much super-powered children—super-powered people. She also imagined them subjugated to Gordon and his lackeys. As much astonishing as the thought was, Blossom's sense of right was even stronger than her confusion.

She saw rows of puffs, each one of them treated like a tree in an orchard, blocked by Duranium chains while Gordon's men harvested W out of them, tortured them to keep them awake and fed them like animals. All of that, while the General himself surveyed them all from afar, a triumphant smile on his face.

"What is taking that idiot so long?!" Gordon directed his attention to the guards nearby. "You, get your radio going and contact the internal stockpile in HQ, I want Duranium-grade shackles on these infra-humans as soon as poss—?"

"I'm going to stop you."

Gordon stopped talking and looked at Blossom. He was apparently incredulous. "What did you just say?"

"I'm going to stop you, General Gordon. We will _all stop you,"_ she said, getting up from her chair. The soldiers raised their weapons again, and this time Gordon didn't tell them to not do so.

However, Blossom's move only had the effect to let her fall out of her chair and down. She grunted on impact and massaged her knees.

"Look at yourself, Blossom," Gordon said, almost taking pity. "You can't even move properly. You don't have any chance against me and my company. Just… give up. It'll save us all a lot of headaches."

"I will not surrender me and my friends that easily! And I can't let you create more _pain_ just because you want money out of weapons!"

Gordon's face darkened. "You had one chance, Blossom. Do not just become another disappointment."

"On the contrary," Blossom said. "You missed one point: you used something made out of W on us, and it worked. But I was not made out of W."

Before Gordon could realize what was going on, Blossom darted forward, flying at full speed. He couldn't even shout an order before Blossom's fist hit his face, sending him tumbling on the floor backwards.

"Donnie, now!" Blossom said before punching the guards who were beside the General. Donnie bolted up as well, head-butting the soldier behind him in the process. He moved towards Blossom while agitating his hands just as Blossom flew towards him, and when the soldiers finally started shooting at them, they were together with Donnie's force field around them. The bullets rebounded off it, Donnie already exerting himself to hold it up, but the field resisted.

"Can you hold it, Donnie?" Blossom asked.

"Sort… of… not for… long…" Donnie wheezed out. He was clearly having a bad time keeping it up: the Anti-W for some reason was more effective on him than it was on Blossom, though not enough to disable his powers for long. There was much she still didn't know about W, but Blossom wasn't going to complain about it right now. She just thanked heavens that saving energy for this last move had somehow worked.

"You little piece of…" Blossom could hear Gordon swear in the distance. He refused help from his subordinates and got up by himself, cleaning a blood trail coming out of his nose. "Get Vessel #3 out of here, we're sending the heavies against them. Get that radio going, now! We're going out!"

' _Huan!'_ Blossom had expected Gordon to stand his ground given that all the soldiers around them had W-enhanced rifles, not to just run for it. For a man with such an elaborated plan, he sure didn't spare in cowardice…

She saw the soldier carrying Huan raising her over his shoulder and running towards Gordon and the rest of the soldiers, who were still shooting at Blossom and Donnie. They were effectively immobilized.

Blossom didn't know what to do… if it wasn't for the fact that, suddenly, the soldier holding Huan screamed. He fell on the ground, flailing his hands around some wound near his neck.

Gordon and his men were just as startled as Blossom and Donnie when they saw Huan hovering in the air. Her eyes were half-closed, and her mouth was circled by blood stains. She was quite terrifying, which was saying something for the lime puff that had been very reluctant to join in the whole operation or even fight.

Most of all, she was mad.

"Y-you… did all of this… for… t-that? A-All of that you s-said?!" she growled at Gordon.

Gordon recomposed himself from the initial surprise, then made a step forward to face her alone. His men behind him had all their weapons aimed at the rogue puff, but no one dared to shoot at her without permission from the general.

His nose was still bleeding, but this time he didn't pay any attention to it. He had only eyes for Huan.

"I did. I would do it again, and I will keep doing it. I will say this once, vessel: _stand down._ "

Huan only response was a shriek. Before Gordon could order the guards to shoot and execute her, something large moved behind Huan. At that moment, even Donnie lost his focus and let the force field dissolve. Both him and Blossom observed the scene as whatever the blob of light that had appeared behind Huan was, it went right through the puff then suddenly jerked forward into the group of soldiers.

"Out of the way, now!" General Gordon managed to say before the thing was over them.

A moment later, the thing suddenly erupted in light. Donnie and Blossom had just the time to realize that the concrete walls were being reduced to smithereens before the entire chamber started to crumble. There was no explosion, no noise—just the concrete suddenly giving in all around them.

They both darted out of the room, barely in time to avoid being buried alive. As fast as it had happened, it had ended, and now there would've been silence if it weren't for the noise of fighting from above.

Blossom could only wonder about what had just happened and the aftermath. Huan was inside that room… and so was Gordon.

"Holy cow…" Donnie managed to let out. "That girl…"

"Donnie," Blossom said, "We… we must try to get Huan out of there. She must be still alive, just weakened. Let's dig her out of here then get her siblings, and then we'll be done. Without Gordon his company should be done for."

Donnie nodded, deciding that questions would come later, and the two puffs started to remove debris the best they could in attempt to create a way into the buried chamber.

They could only hope that the girl that had just managed to single-handedly defeat General Gordon was still okay.


End file.
